Time To Hunt
by serindarkwolf19
Summary: FF7DMC crossover:Dante is hired to hunt and kill a very dangerous demon that may just be his match. Vincent Valentine. Rated T for a little language and violence Completed
1. Prologue

**Prologue:**

The city was silent. Not many people were out on the streets of ruin and the demons that were usually out were scarce. They didn't come out of the Underworld often as much as they used to. For if they did, the Demon Hunter would get them. And they knew that.

The night was a silent one, with only the yellow moon shining high above the sky and the white stars twinkled all around it. There was nothing but silence. The deserted streets were as dark as they were silent. Only one was lit up. And that street led up towards a highly lit building with a large neon sign that flashed brightly.

The sign said: DEVIL NEVER CRY

It was the home of the Demon hunter, Dante and his personal business that he had created since the death of his mother. The lights were on inside, proving that someone was up late. But that someone, clearly Dante, was unaware that he would soon have a visitor.

The visitor was standing outside in the dark street, just looking up at the highly lit building. Their emerald green eyes just stared at the flashing sign, gleaming with excitement. They were wearing a black hooded cloak, hiding their identity and gender. The person was small though and quite petite looking. They were also excited about something. Something that was about to happen. It was time for payback.

Inside, Dante was sitting in his chair, head leaned back and his eyes closed.He had his feet propped up on his desk and his hands folded on his stomach. He appeared to be asleep. But he wasn't asleep. He was actually neither asleep nor awake. He knew he should just call it a day and head upstairs to get some sleep. There was no way that someone would be out this late. And if they were, they must have been crazy. It was way after midnight. They should have been asleep. But then again, demons didn't sleep. So if they weren't going to go to sleep, neither would the Hunter.

It had been quite a while since Dante last had a job. The demon hunting had slowed down a notch for not many demons decided to show their ugly faces. They knew that Dante would get them the very minute they started to terrorize the people of his city.  
Dante, himself, hadn't changed very much since his last crusade. He was still the same. He kept his platinum white hair slightly long, yet short too. It had grown a few inches since the last time he hunted. His eyes were still as icy blue as ever. He still favored his red trench coat, with black underneath. His amulate was still around his neck, with the three jewels that enhanced his demon powers.  
His prized collection of swords were hanging on the wall with the many skulls of demons he once hunted, with only a few guns that he had collected over the years. But his favorite guns, Ebony and Ivory were in their place at his sides. They stayed there at all times, no matter what. He even slept with those things under his pillow.

Dante was nearly dozing off when he felt a strange presense enter the room. It made him completely awake, but he kept his eyes shut, frowning deeply. He listened hard to the soft footsteps walking towards him. The intruder was no doubt being as quiet as much as they could as they snuck up towards him. The demon hunter's hands relaxed, slowly slipping away from one another as if he had fallen asleep, slowly sliding down to where his guns were.

And when the intruder was too close for his comfort, his eyes snapped open and he looked right at them. His guns were in his hand, trained on the alarmed intruder, who only stepped back but not reacted.

"You know, it's not very smart to sneak into someone's place and bother them when they're trying to sleep. You may get shot." Dante warned as he slowly placed his feet on the wooden floor.

The stranger didn't reply as they slowly reached up and grabbed the hood. Carefully, they lowered the hood while saying, "I suppose you're right. It's not smart. Especially when it's you, Demon Hunter, son of a demon."

Dante wasn't surprised that this person knew who he was and what he was. Half of the human population that still existed knew him and his origin. They knew what he did and how he did it. How could this woman not know who he was?

But he was surprised by how she looked.

The woman standing before him was a very beautiful and elegant woman. She had dark brown hair which was pulled into a loose braid with long bangs hanging over her emerald green eyes. A deep red ribbon tied in her hair, spilling down her black. She was wearing a black outfit under the dark cloak. A black top with long sleeves and the bottom cut just a few inches from below her busts, showing her toned stomach and belly button. Her pants were of black leather with mid knee high black leather boots. A few belts were around her right leg where she had two long blades. She had the looks of an angel; a dark angel to be more precise. She was very fair skinned and quite exquisite. More than the woman he usually worked with. Lady, Trish and Lucia had been extremely beautiful but this woman was definitely more beautiful than they were.

"Who are you?" Dante asked finding himself at last.

The dark beauty just smiled coolly at him, her green eyes sparkling with delight. They never left Dante's icy eyes once as she moved forward. "I am Jen. I've come to you to service. I need a demon destroyed." She then arched her pencil thin eyebrow. "Devil Never Cy is still open, correct?"

Dante nodded as he slid his guns away and stood up. "Yeah. It's still open. I'm Dante, the one who runs this place. What kind of demon do you need killed?"

Jen smiled at him in a bittersweet way. "A demon of such wickedness. His name is Chaos. His name says all. He lives inside the body of a wicked man who is just as wicked as he is. He kills people without emotion or care for the person at all."

Dante frowned at the news. That was definitely something new. He had never known of a demon possessing the body of a man. He had never seen it happen or hear of it. Tilting his head, he squinted his eyes at Jen. "The man, you say, is wicked? What has he done?"

Jen's smile never wavered once. She just kept her emerald green eyes on his icy blue ones. "He killed a woman many years ago when he was suppose to protect her." She announced to him.

"Really?" Dante asked suspiciously. "And what's it to you that he killed this woman? Who is she to you?"

Jen's smile was now gone and her eyes had gone very dark. "My mother, Demon Hunter. The woman was my mother." She told him.

Dante crinkled his nose a little as he gave her a serious look. "This isn't about revenge is it? Because I don't do humans. I'm a Demon Hunter, not a bounty hunter." He told her in a very serious way. Jen shook her head as she looked just as serious. "No. This is not about revenge. Not entirely. It's just about the demon. The demon is a monster, Dante. It kills people, men, women and children; not caring for their lives or for the people that once loved them. It causes grief and suffering wherever it goes. It must be stopped but no one can do it. No one but you. You have the powers to do it."

"And the wicked man? How does he die in this plot?" Dante asked sarcastically.

Jen smiled again. "Well, he and the demon shares the same body. You kill the man, you kill the demon. Therefore, job well done. However I must warn you. The man has companions. His friends will try to stop you, I fear. They are as wicked as he is. They are mercenaries, terrorists. They killed countless of lives, caring only about theirselves and about money. You don't have to kill them but they might get in your way. Your target is only the demon and the man but if they do get in the way, kill them. But make sure the man dies. He has caused enough pain and suffering." She told Dante.

Dante just frowned before he turned away, digging into his pocket. He pulled out his Lady Coin, glancing at Jen. "If it's heads." He muttered before flipping the coin into the air. He caught it right out of the air and looked at what the verdict was.

With a nod, he put it back into his pocket.

"You're in luck. It's heads. I'll take the job. Where's the demon man?" He asked as he went over to the wall and pulled off his sword, Alastor, from the wall.

"Good." Jen said sounding happy again. "Prepare yourself, Demon Hunter. It's going to be a bumpy ride."

Dante frowned with confusion and looked back at him. He didn't know what she meant by that. "What?" He asked. Jen only smirked in such a way that it actually made a shiver go right up his back. He did not like that look. He really had a bad feeling about this.

**Author's Note:  
All right, not for an explaination about this story. The other day I had just gotten done beating Devil May Cry 2 when I came up with a pretty interesting idea. I thought, what would happen if Dante was suddenly transported to the world of Final Fantasy 7 and he was hired to kill Vincent because he's a so called demon? Well, I decided to put this story to the test, and I'm hoping that whoever reads it will like what I've been doing with it. Now this is only just the beginning and I will have the next chapter as soon as I can. But I can guarentee it, this will be a VERY interesting story. So please tell me what you think of it so far, even though there's not very much to say about it just yet. **


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey, everyone. Thanks for all the reviews. To be honest, I'm so surprised that I got any on the first chapter, but very pleased. I was a little worried that no one would read it. And to answer one question that someone did ask, believe me, the fight between Vincent and Dante will be very good! Anyway, let's get on with the story.

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****Chapter One**

The day was quite nice for a change. The sun was shining brightly and it was nothing but blue skies. There were only a few white fluffy clouds, rolling across the sky. The grass was regrowing around the old city of Midgar, growing rapidly actually. Life was coming back to life near the city. Trees grew tall, reaching for the sky as if wanting to touch the clouds.It was looking like it had turned into Summer. It was a beautiful day. Nothing bad would happen.

In the once called Midgar, there was some kind of celebration going on. The remaing people of Midgar City were celebrating the downfall of the Geostigma. Children were laughing and playing together while adults were talking or laughing about things that had recently happened or about how far they had come. Music was blasting out of home-made speakers, and people were dancing to it.

The hosts of the party were the favorable group of Avalanche, or at least most of them.

Tifa Lockhart was serving drinks to people, laughing as she watched her little helper, Marlene Wallace was playing with Denzel, an orphan boy that she had taken into her home.

Barret Wallace was assisting her while chatting with the leader of their band, Cloud Strife.Their conversation was about their young friend, Yuffie and about how well she was getting along with a certain red haired Turk, Reno no doubt. The two of them were talking to one another while dancing behind the music booth. Rude was with them, making himself look like a bouncer while a young man close by was talking to a bunch of construction workers.  
The man, who actually was Rufus Shinra was planning on rebuilding the city and this time no one was going to rule anyone. No one outside from Avalanche knew exactly who Rufus was. He was going by the name of Ryuu Ash and that was that. If anyone knew his true identity, they would probably kill him. He was wearing a dark business outfit, which was actuall his old uniform dyed dark blue. He was hiding his fine, delicate hair under a bandana, which really didn't go with his outfit. But he was trying to keep anyone from recognizing him. The Turks were pretending that he was a wealthy man, who was paying them for protection. So far, it was working.

And Avalanche hadn't said a thing about him, not yet anyway. They were keeping an eye on Rufus to make sure that he wasn't going to repeat his past actions.

As for everyone else, they were living their own lives and making their own futures. A few of them couldn't have made it to the Celebration, for family situtations. But there was still one person that all of them were worried about. He crossed all their minds, making them wonder where he was and what he was doing. Every one of the Avalanche members couldn't help but worry about Vincent Valentine.

Ever since Cloud had killed Sephiroth and the three silver haired remnans, Vincent had once again distanced himself from everyone, going off on his own and hardly keeping in contact. He did check in once in a while with Tifa or Cid. He had bought a phone soon after the Geostigma Crisis, to make a certain little girl stop bothering him about having one. Marelene always did have a certain effect on people. The reason why everyone was so worried about him, was because he was still keeping to himself, hardly opening up to everyone. And he still moped about sins, only not as much as he used. No one in Avalanche knew where Vincent usually was at. He had told everyone that he was going to return to the Nibelhiem Mansion in the town, probably to return to his coffin. But when Cid had gone to check on him a few times, Vincent wasn't there. It made the others worry too much that Nanaki tried to track him. The lion/dog creature had discovered Vincent to be at Lucrecia's cave, which was where everyone was sure he spent most of his time. Sad thing was, Lucrecia was never there when Vincent went to visit her. It was like she had completely vanished. The theory the Avalanche members had come up with was that Lucrecia had finally decided to move on. That she had returned to the Promised Land. But no one could exactly be sure. Tifa had pointed out, once, that she seemed to be just like Vincent, that she would be trapped on the Planet as he was. It was really sad to think about.

Before Cid had left to go to the Old Midgar City, he stopped in Nibelhiem to see if the Ex-Turk wanted to join the party and surprise, surprise, Vincent wasn't there. No one really knew where he was this time. It was possible he was at Lucrecia's Cave but it seemed pointless. She wouldn't be there. And everyone knew that Vincent wouldn't go to the party if he was in his depression state again. He still couldn't forgive himself for what happened so many years ago. He just couldn't let go the fact that Lucrecia was no longer who she once was. And it was sad to think that he would never let go his dark past.

"Hey, Cloud."

Cloud turned his blue eyes onto wo was speaking to him and it was Reeve. "Hey, Reeve." He said thoughtfully, turning his full attention onto the toymaker, looking quite curious. Reeve shrugged as he sat himself down next to him and waved at Tifa and Barret. "Hey, Tifa, Barret. How're you?"

Tifa and Barret both smiled at him. "Hey, Reeve. I'm good. Want something to drink?" The pretty bartender said. Reeve nodded. "Yes, thank you." He told her. Barret nodded as he wiped the counter top. "Well, I'm slammin'! How're you doing, Shinra Manager?" He asked, gruff as ever.

Reeve just smiled at the big black man. "I'm good, Barret. Thank you for asking." He then shifted his eyes onto Cloud. "So how's business?"

Cloud shrugged lazily. "It's going just fine. There's been a lot of packages needing to be delivered lately. A lot of letters. I've already delivered over a hundred letters this week." He slowly picked up his drink and sipped it, then set it down again. "I'm thinking about expanding the business. We're in need of more delivery boys. Cid joined in. He's been flying all over for me. Barret is somewhat helping. He's still working with the Oil Company. As for some of our new," He paused looking towards the Turks, who were still dancing or just standing around, then to Rufus. "Our new business partners, they're working with us to build up Strife's Deliver Service. He hasn't done anything to betray us or break the contract but I still don't trust him." Cloud told his older friend.

Reeve slowly nodded as he looked over to see Rufus shaking hands with the construction workers, sealing the deal they had been talking over. "He's a changed man, Cloud. You must admit that. He hasn't been the same since Shinra fell."

Cloud shrugged again. "Maybe. But Shinra is a cunning man. It's possible he's bidding his time to do something. And I'm not going to put my guard down so be can stab us in the back." He told him seriously. Reeve just nodded before looking around. His smile slightly faded, but still remained. "I see our favorite tall, dark friend isn't here. He's missing quite the celebration." He said with a light shrug.

Cloud shook his head. "You know Vincent. He likes his privacy."

"More like solitude." Barret grumbled making the others faintly smile.

Tifa nudged Barret to make him shut up. "Hey, come on, guys. You know Vincent. It's the big crowds. He hates too many people being around him. It's the noise that makes him edgy. It's just too much for him." She said giving Reeve his drink. Reeve slowly nodded as he took it. "Thank you, Tifa." His dark eyes went back to Cloud. "Where is our dark friend anyway? Still visiting Lucrecia's cave, hoping to see her?"

"Who knows. I don't see a point of him going there. She's never there." Cloud said shrugging.

Tifa shook her head again as she wiped her hands on a rag. "The last time I talked to him, he was on his way to the Forgotten City. He said he wanted to study the ruins and the language of the Ancients. I think he's curious about their mysterious dialect." She told all the men.

Cloud slowly nodded. "Well, if he finds anything, he'll let us know. I'm just as curious as he is." he said then went back to drinking the drinks Tifa was serving.

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The spoken person, of course, was making a little progress with his studies. Vincent was studying the words of the Ancients in the shell house near Aeris's Lake. He was concentrating hard on the words, looking at the symbols carefully. He had taken a few notes on a pad of paper he had purchased in Bone Village, but there wasn't very much.

He was still the same as always. He wore the same clothes, had the same dark and mysterious attitude, never speaking to others when they tried to talk to him. He really hadn't changed over the past few weeks, or years. The only difference about him was he now had a mobile phone clipped to his belt.

Vincent was standing before one of the walls, studying the ancient language and quite carefully. He was reading the words slowly, trying to piece the puzzle together with what he already knew about the Ancient language. He knew a little of the ancient words, after working with Professor Gast as a Turk but not much. He knew only a few words. With the words that he knew, he was trying to put the puzzle pieces together, trying to figure out what they were saying. He had removed his large red cloak, leaving it folded over a chair.

"..." The silent Ex-Turk muttered as he gently touched a symbol with his golden claws. Then he turned his attention onto the pad of paper, reading it carefully. There wasn't much he had written but the only things he did write was _"The Word of the Ancients..."_ and _"...the silver road leads up to the Promised Land..."_ But otherwise, he had nothing.

During his studying hour, Vincent was very unaware that he was about to meet someone just as dangerous as he was.

Just outside the dead city, a strong breeze was starting to kick up. It was twirling the dirt and leaves around, building up some kind of cyclon right out of the sky. Only the cyclon wasn't exactly facing upwards. It was coming almost like on its side.  
Then there was a cracking sound, almost like lightning and some sort of hole or ripples appeared in the cyclon. Blue sparks flew as something came flying out of it, crashing and rolling across the ground and over the bumpy terrain.

Dante just laid in the dirt, quite motionless, as if he wasn't alive or had been knocked out unconscious. But he was breathing and eventually came the grumbling.  
He finally pushed himself up to his feet, brushing dirt and leaves from his cloths. He was grumbling about his new employer. It would have been nice of Jen if she only told him about the landing. She should have anyway, otherwise he wouldn't have came flying from a damn portal and crashed to the ground, scraping himself against some sharp rocks. He was lucky enough that the rocks hadn't torn his favorite trench coat. And if they had, he would have really been in a bad mood.

Only minutes before Dante came this strange place, he had learned from Jen that she was from a different world, some place that was just called the Planet. Now, he was used to travelling to the Demon world and back, but a whole new world that could have been billions or trillions of lightyears away from his own world? That was something he couldn't believe.

That is until Jen opened up the portal before he could express his second thoughts. Jen only told him what the man's name was and then made him go through the a strange worm hole.

The entire journey had made him feel queasy, but that was because he had fallen through some weird tunnel, whizzing past speeding stars and planets. It was just a little too much for him to even think about. But now, he was safe and sound on solid ground and it made him feel better.

Without a word, Dante stood straight and looked around his new surroundings. He couldn't help but blink in surprise on where he was. He was standing on a cliffside, overlooking a small valley, which had some kind of Ancient City. It was surrounded by dead looking white trees and sea shell shaped houses. The thing was, he saw houses and a city, but he saw no people. It seemed to completely deserted. Dante began to wonder if there was even anyone in that city. Making up his mind, he began to find his way down a path, heading towards the ruined city. Maybe, just maybe, he would find something of interest.

Along the way, Dante was suddenly attacked by the most unusual demons, at least that's what he thought they were. Each creature he met, he just frowned before pulling Alastor for is place. He began battling them, making his way through these 'demons' but to his utter disappointment, they were too easy for him. He sliced through them, hoping they would at least be of a challenge to him. But no, they had to be so easy to take on.

Soon Dante was in the dead city. He couldn't help but look around. It didn't look much of a city. There weren't really very many buildings only large coral looking things, which looked as dead as the city did. It was completely quiet. There didn't seem to be a single person in the entire city. He really did not like it at all. Maybe everyone was dead.

"Man, what a dump." Dante muttered as he kicked a large flake of stone. It shattered like nothing.

He decided to check one of the shell houses, hoping to find someone that could answer some questions. Like the fact where the hell he was. He had no idea what this Planet was actually called, not to mention his exact location. He didn't even know where to find the man he was suppose to hunt and kill. Jen had told him that she would take him to where he was but there wasn't a single person in sight.

Dante entered one of the shell houses, frowning at its structure. He really hadn't seen a house like this before.  
The inside was just like a sea shell too. It curled as he went up, finding some kind of room. It had furniture in the room, not like any sea shell he ever knew about. He even noticed some kind of glowing writing on the wall. It was in a total different language that he couldn't understand. What was even stranger, he could hear some kind of whispers coming from the walls.  
Weirded out, Dante left the seashell house to continue his search for answers. He had just walked out when he noticed something that changed since he had been inside. There was someone standing in the middle of the flaky road.

Dante's hand immediately swung over his head and grabbed Alastor's handle, but then he paused when he actually saw who the someone was.

It was a woman wearing a pink dress with a dusty rose colored jacket. Her hair was light brown and was pulled into a loose braid. Her long bangs hung over lovely emerald green eyes, which were on him. She had a fair and delicate look about her, almost as if she was an angel. But what surprised Dante more was on how much she looked like Jen. Her features, her body structure, her height and hair, it was just like Jen. Only she was more lighter than his employer. Her hair was lighter, even though she had darker skin, yet it was still a pale peach color.  
The woman was watching him carefully with her eyes, gazing into his. She seemed to be surprised to see him there, but then she frowned, still looking interested. She looked him over, taking in his appearence and tilting her head in wonder. But then her eyes shifted off to somewhere else. Towards the middle of the city. It was as if she senses something there.

"Jen?" Dante asked, stepping closer towards her.

The woman turned her eyes back at him, frowning in confusion. She didn't seem to understand what he was saying, but he had a feeling that she did. She just tilted her head before she turned away and started walking. But with each step she took, the more transparent she became. And soon she had vanished in thin air.

"What the hell was that?" Dante asked himself.

Shaking his head, Dante began walking up the path to where she had been going. He came to a four way fork in the road, but chose to head in the direction the woman had been looking at. The road seemed to lead into canyon full of the weird white trees. The others seemed to do the same. With a shrug, Dante went down that road. He walked for quite a while until he came to some kind of dark forest with the white trees. Strange as it already was, the trees seemed to glow like the moon. Dante couldn't help but look around in interest, many thoughts going through his mind.

Not long later, he came to large clearing with another seashell house sitting by a small clear lake. Dante frowned as he moved towards the lake, stopping near the water's edge. There was such a strange feeling in the air. A very peaceful but powerful feeling seemed to be haunting this place. There was something about it. It was like there was something hidden here and Dante wanted to know what it was. He looked into the water, staring with a frown. He could feel something in the water. Some kind of aura. It was like there was a life force in it. It felt...

Suddenly, Dante was alert when he saw movement at the doorway of the house. He moved very quickly towards the trees, hiding behind one of them. He had both Ivory and Ebony in his hands, waiting to see what was there. His eyes were narrowed dangerously as he watched who came out.

It was a man.

He was a very tall man, much taller than him, yet only by at least five inches. The man was wearing all black under a large red cloak. His long, raven-black hair spilled all around his face, which was quite a pale complexion but it seemed to suit this man. The man had a red band tied around his head, keeping most of the long bangs out of his eyes. To Dante, this man looked too much like a vampire. But what made him more alert was the golden clawed arm he possessed on his left side. It was no doubt some kind of weapon. There was also a gun bouncing on the man's leg as he walked out.

The man, incidently, was Vincent Valentine.

As Dante watched Vincent, he suddenly felt very uneasy. He didn't know why but there was something about this dark man. There was a dark and powerful aura coming off of him and Dante didn't like it. He had only felt this feeling a few times and that was went he faced off with Arkham and Vergil. He didn't know who this man was, but he knew for certain that he was probably very dangerous.

Vincent was unaware that he was being watched but he was starting to get the feeling. He had just finished reading some of the Ancient words when he decided it was time to call it a night. It was getting very late and he was starting to tire, at least a little. He figured that he could just pick up where he left off the very next day. So he left the house, making his way towards the road that lead towards the group of houses when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise up. And that was not a good sign.  
When ever that happened, he knew that someone was watching him. Someone or something very dangerous.

The Ex-Turk halted from going any farther before looking around very carefully. His ruby colored eyes searching the area, cautiously. He couldn't see anyone but he knew that someone was there. Something. His hand was now on his Death Penalty, ready to whip it out if needed. He flipped his cloak back so that his golden claw was ready to swing if needed. He still looked around, with his chin digging into his neck.

"Who's there?" He called.

There was no answer at first. But the Ex-Turk wasn't going to give up. He narrowed his eyes as he continued to look around. "I can feel your presense. Show yourself or be hunted." He warned in a very dark tone.

There was a sudden snort of amusement before someone stepped out from behind a white tree. Vincent whirled around, very alert the very moment he saw the white haired man with an icy blue stare. But more alert to see that there were pair of guns in his hands. "Sorry, mister. But I'm the hunter and you're the hunted."


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews, everyone, and I'm glad you're all enjoying it. Here's the first big battle. Vincent vs. Dante. Who will win? We shall see. Now read and review.

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**Chapter Two**

Vincent watched the stranger carefully as he started to circle the Ex-Turk, both staring into one another's eyes, guns in hands. They just carefully watched one another, waiting for one or the other move. And while they were circling one another, Vincent decided to take a quick look over of this strange man. It was a young man, maybe at least 22 or 23 years old. His hair was completely white and he had a tanned complexion. His eyes were extremely blue, almost the color of blue ice. He was black leather pants and a red leather trench coat with the torsoe being of black leather. There was a few strange symbols on it as well. And around the stranger's neck, he had an amulate with three stones encrusted in it. A few of the stones were glowing with power, so Vincent figured they were materia. Though he had never seen two moon shaped materia before. There was a large sword strapped to the man's back and it looked as if there was static bolts running along the blade. There was also a shotgun strapped to the man's waist from under the trench coat.

There was something else about this man that troubled Vincent. It was the aura that he felt around him. The aura seemed a little dark yet light at the same time. And it was very strong. The demons within Vincent were very awake and frighteningly excited. He could feel them moaning with fear and anger within his head. So if Chaos was feeling uneasy, there was deep trouble brewing.

"Who are you?" Vincent asked sounding very serious.

The stranger slowly made his way around the Ex-Turk, carefully looking this man over. He finally stopped fifteen feet away. His eyes studying this dark and mysterious man. He didn't like the feeling of this strange man in red any more than he was liked by him. "The name's Dante." He finally answered after a long silence between them. "I'm a demon hunter. And you?"

Vincent still watched the stranger carefully, not wanting to drop his guard just in case this man was going to attack him. The man looked quite calm and relaxed, as if he wasn't going to do anything. But he was sure that if he dropped his guard for an instant, the white haired man might attack him. Vincent didn't think that this Dante didn't look too dangerous and he couldn't have been any stronger than him either. But he had been wrong before. He didn't know what was making him so nervous. Maybe it was the title and profession this Dante just mentioned. Vincent lowered his head a little, letting a long strand of his hair fall over his ruby eyes. "I am no one in importance. What business do you have here?"

Dante smirked before shaking his head. "Some name you have there, Mr. No one." He said sarcastically before looking around the area, for a brief moment. "Actually, I'm looking for someone. A wicked man. I was told he'd be around here, causing trouble and killing people. You know, all the evil stuff."

"You a bounty hunter?" Vincent asked, tilting his head. "If you are, Rufus Shinra isn't here. He's in Midgar if that's who you're looking for." He told him.

The white haired man shook his head looking back at the Ex-Turk. "No. I'm not a bounty hunter. I told you. I'm a demon hunter. And I'm not looking for any Rufus Shinra, whoever that is."

Vincent frowned at him, still the word "Demon Hunter" was bugging him. "You don't know who Rufus Shinra was?"

"If I did, I probably wouldn't be looking confused right about now." Dante remarked. "I'm looking for a dangerous demon."

Vincent had a feeling things were going to turn nasty if this Demon Hunter found out that he actually had demons inside him, so he figured that it was time to leave. He put his gun back into his holster and turned away. "Sorry." he told him quietly. "I can't help you. But if you have the name of this so called wicked man, tell me. And maybe I can tell you if I know where to find him. Or the demon."

Dante shrugged still watching the man. "All right. I'm looking for a demon I'm looking for is called Chaos. It's an evil demon and I believe it lives within a man." He frowned for a second. "I think his name was Vincent Valentine." And when Vincent stiffened, spinning around and gave him an alarmed look, he smirked. "I suppose that would be you, Mr. No one of importance."

Vincent frowned darkly, tilting his head in wonder as he fully faced Dante, his hand back on his Death Penalty. He gave the white haired man a look of suspicion. "I guess I am. What do you want?"

Dante shook his head as he walked closer to Vincent, his guns safely placed back into their places at his sides. He stopped within ten feet of Vincent, who stepped back, his hand still on the large triple barreled gun. "I don't want anything. I'm just doing my job." He told Vincent. "I've been hired to kill the wicked demon, Chaos. I'm a demon hunter who hunts and kills demons to keep humanity from dying. And I've killed a lot of demons in my time." He then shrugged. "Now, if there's a way for you to seperate bodies with the demon, I'll let you live so that someone else can kill you and end your wickedness. But if you can't seperate," He smirked coolly. "Then I guess I'll just have to kill you."

Vincent shook his head as he took another step back. "I'm afraid I cannot seperate with Chaos. I would if I could. But he's apart of me and as for you trying to kill him," He smirked himself. "Good luck trying. Because you'd be dead within minutes." He warned the Demon Hunter.

"Heh." Dante chuckled. "You seem very confident in Chao's power. He must be pretty strong if you talk like that about him, unless you're big headed. But by the looks of you, you don't strike me the type that would brag about anything." He then reached up and grabbed Alastor's handle, pulling it out and slicing the air. "Well, it looks like we're not going to be getting along at all. So why don't we just get this done and over with. I have to get back to my lovely lady." He told him, referring to his home, though he knew Vincent wouldn't know that.

Vincent shook his head as he pulled out Death Penalty again, flipping his cloak to free his golden arm again. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into, Demon Hunter Dante." He warned the white haired man. "If I were you, I would just go back to where you came from now and forget your mission before you die. You seem to kill demons to protect the world so I don't want to kill you."

The Demon Hunter rolled his eyes as he stood ready, spinning it with his wrists once. "Some advice. Too bad you're not me. Otherwise you might have had a chance."

There was a long pause between the two before Dante made his move, rushing forward to attack. Vincent immediately began firing off his gun, sending bullets flying at him. To his surprise, he missed the Demon Hunter. Dante had dodged the bullets as if they were only rocks being thrown by a kid. He was extremely fast on his feet and was enclosing faster than Vincent expected. Of course, he was going to learn that the Ex-Turk was also fast.

Dante moved quickly swinging his sword Vincent, who quickly dodged to the side, swining his golden claws. He was struck though, in the arm. Dante jumped back, touching his arm where Vincent slashed him. He then smirked as he readied himself for another attack. "Well, this is going to be fun."

And he attacked again.

Vincent quickly dodged the swinging blade, using his golden claws to deflect the attacks. The sword left only scratches to the hard metal surface but the strength Dante was putting to the swing was unbearable. He began firing off his gun again, trying to shoot his attacker and again to his surprised, Dante was fast enough to move out of the way.

Actually, he jumped high into the air, kicking off the ground hard. Dante spun around firing off his own guns at Vincent, who was quick to moving out of the way. He spun around quickly firing off the Death Penalty again. Dante landed hard on the ground before charging as he fired. He immediately swung Alastor as soon as he was close enough again. Vincent just barely had time to raise his golden arm to deflect the attack. He immediately threw out his foot, deciding that it was time to fight hand to hand. Dante caught on immediately and complied to Vincent's wishes of fighting without weapoins.

The fist fight lasted for quite a while, both swinging at one another with their fists or sending powerful kicks at one another. They were showing great knowledge of hand to hand combat. It suprised both fighters on how much one of the other knew how to fight like he did. They were finding each other very difficult to defeat and as their battle grew on more fiercer, they were starting to look quite dreadful.

Finally after a while, Dante grew fed up with how the fight was turning out. He had expected that he would beat this strange man quickly like he usually did with other opponments. It was getting very frustrating on how strong this demon man really was. Kicking Vincent hard in the chest with some of his demon strength, he staggered back a little after also getting slashed in the side by the golden claws.

Vincent staggered back several feet, a hand clapped over his chest where Dante had kicked him. He couldn't help but wince by the throbbing pain he was feeling. Dante had kicked pretty hard and it felt like Vincent had just got kicked by a Chocobo, and they kicked really hard.

"I'll admit it, Valentine Demon." Dante said shrugging lazily as he began to circle the former Turk. "You are one tough bastard to fight. I've never had a challenge like you before. Other than my twin, Vergil. But that's because he was like me. Now then, what do I got to do to see this so called demon, Chaos. I heard he's such a bad ass. But if he's anything like you, I'll have him beat in no time."

Vincent's head was lowered so Dante couldn't see his face, his long black hair helping him to hiding it. But if he had been looking up right at the demon hunter, he would have noticed that Vincent's eyes suddenly started glowing hot red. But Dante did noticed how Vincent's body was twitching. As if he was having a fit or as if he was crying. He didn't really think anything of it but it did make him smirk. "What, you tired of our battle?"

"On the contuary," Vincent spoke, his voice much darker and more monotonous than before. Dante was surprised by the sudden change of his enemy's voice, enough to step back. Vincent's head finally came up, yet very slowly. His glowing red eyes peeping through the strands of dark hair. "I'm just getting started, demon hunter." He growled, only this time, it wasn't Vincent's voice.

It was Chaos's.

Vincent's body let out an inhuman growl as he stood up straighter, his skin starting to darken as if he was burning alive. Soon his skin had turned completely black. His hair shrunk into his head and vanished as two long horns grew out from his head. There was a sudden ripping noise as two black, leather, bat-like wings shot out from Vincent's back, spreading out high and wide. A dark cloud seemed to be growing all around him as he went through his horrific transformation. He was no longer Vincent Valentine, but the legendary Darkness Demon, Chaos.

Dante couldn't stop himself from stepping back in shock. His eyes widening as he looked Chaos over. He could feel a very dark and powerful feeling coming off of this demon. He could sense what kind of power this deadly demon possessed. This was going to be a very tough battle, he knew it. For a brief moment, Dante felt a sense of nervousness shoot up his back. But then again, this was Dante, the son of Sparda. He did not fear nor giveup so easily.

"So," He began circling the demon, who watched him carefully. "You're the big bad demon, Chaos, huh?"  
Chaos snarled at him as he slowly turned to keep Dante from getting behing him. "Aye, I am. What, are you now afraid, demon hunter?" He growled in dark amusement.

Dante snorted as he faced the demon. "Not likely. I'm not afraid of anything. Especially of overgrown bats like you." He remarked.

Chaos snarled in rage before charging at Dante. Dante quickly moved back, missing the demon's claws by inches. He was finding this very difficult though. For Chaos was extremely fast. And by the looks of its claws, if they were to meet his flesh, he could get slashed to bits. It was thanks to Lady Luck that he was moving faster than the demon, and it was fast. The two of them were practically black and red blurs as they quickly attacked one another. Dante was nearly nicked a few times as he quickly moved away from Chaos, his teeth clenched in anxiety and concentration. He even jumped clean over the demon only to get hit by the demon's wing. It sent him flying fifteen feet away, but with grace, he landed on his feet, skidding a little. He quickly stood up straight and fired off a few rounds at Chaos. The demon didn't even bother dodging them. He just let the bullets sink into his chests as he sped forward, swinging his claws.

"Argh!" Dante grunted in pain as the demon's claws sank into his chest.

Chaos sneered evilly at the white haired demon hunter, as he roughly shoved Dante right into a tree, pinning him there. "You were a fool of challenging me, human." He snarled excitedly, digging his claws deeper into Dante's chest. "And now you die." He said shoving his claws deeper.

It was then Dante laughed darkly as his blood running down his front. His head lifted a little to look right into the darkness demon's eyes. He saw the confused look on his enemy's face, saw the wicked smirk falter. And that made him smile even more in a very dark way. "I don't die easily, demon." Then he quickly brought up his leg close to his chest before kicking the demon right in the chest, sending him flying several feet away from him. The imapact made Chaos crash right into a group of trees and looking extremely stunned.

Dante just moved away from the tree, touching the blood on his chest. "Now, I'll admit it. That did hurt like a bitch." He said truthfully. "But I have had worst."

Chaos's eyes widened seeing that Dante was not weak nor had any wounds. The slash that he had just inflicted on this demon hunter had vanished. There was blood on his front but no tears in his skin or clothes. That did irritate and startle him quite a bit. "You...you're not hurt."

Dante shook his head, smirking coldly as he slowly made his way towards the demon. "Nope. Not even a scratch."

Chaos's wings spread out as he bared his teeth. "You're not human." He growled.

"Nope. Not quite." Dante said as he grinned, his hands once again grabbing Alastor's handle. "I'm a half demon." And with that, he charged at Chaos, swinging the sword. Chaos quickly tried to dodge but found that Dante was a lot faster than he had been showing before. He was stunned as he was slashed by the electrifying blade. He snarled in pain before quickly swinging his claws again. Dante easily blocked with his arm before slashing the demon in the side. Chaos growled in pain as he immediately took the air, letting Dante drop down to the earth's floor. "A demon...who hunts his own kind." He half gasped, half snarled.

Dante shook his head as he watched Chaos flying around him. "Sorry, Chaos. I'm not like your evil kind." And then he jumped very high in the sky, just as flashed with hot blue light. He transformed into his own demonic form. Chaos was almost too stunned to react before quickly trying to avoid the swinging blade by the demonic Dante. But the demon hunter quickly pursued, slashing at Chaos, cutting into his black flesh.

The battle was starting to turn very fierce as the two demons slashed at one another, tearing into each other's skin. They were like black and blue blurs in the sky as they flew above the lake. They crashed into trees as the other attacked but neither paid attention. Unlike Chaos, Dante did not seem to be weakening. The wounds Chaos inflicted on him didn't seem to stay for too long. It was like he healed every time. He did notice the amulate around Dante's neck starting to glow now and then and he started to figure that was how Dante was healing himself. He even tried to grab for it but Dante immediately knocked his claws away before stabbing him in the shoulder, cutting into the base of Chaos's wings. The demon threw his head back and snarled in pain before dropping down to the ground, terribly beaten.

Dante fell from the air, landing on his feet just as he transformed back into his human form. He stood up and looked at the fallen demon, who was in a heap. Chaos's wings had fallen all around his black body and he was shaking badly. His claws was over the horrible wound Dante had given him. His growls coming out from deep within his throat, yet in a very painful way. Chaos's blood was draining from his wounds and heavily. He was in a terrible shape. He could barely stand up as he tried. His eyes slowly lifted up to look at Dante, who approached with Ivory and Ebony in his hands.

The demon hunter smirked coolly as he stood above the demon, one gun immediately pointing at the demon's head. "Some demon. You're strong, but strong enough." He then shook his head. "Remember, Devils Never Cry, even when they're in Hell." And he cocked back the hammer, ready to fire.

Suddenly the was a loud crack of thunder and blinding white light flashed alive, all around Dante and Chaos. The demon hunter jerked his head away, quickly covering his face with both arms, stunned by the strange phenomena. He even had to close his eyes from the brilliant white light. Even Chaos covered his eyes from the light, blinded by it.

_'Run, Vincent! Fly away!'_ came a sweet yet firm voice.

Dante quickly opened his eyes, ignoring the pain the light was giving him to aim his gun to finish Chaos off. But before he could fire, Chaos's leathery wings shot outward, knocking into him over. The demon quickly, with eyes closed, took to the air, flying upward as fast as he could, ignoring the searing pain in his body and wings. He knew he had to get out of there before Dante recovered.

Though, Dante had as the light slightly dimmed. He quickly took aim again, ready to fire. But once again, a strange phenomena happened. Before he could fire, there was a loud splash as the water from the lake rose out of the water as if it was alive and shot over to where he was standing, wrapping around him. Dante was stunned by what was happening but before he knew it, he was suddenly yanked right into lake as if something had grabbed him. He fell into the lake. Only seconds later, when he finally was released and allowed to go back to the shore, he looked up into the once again dark sky only to see no Chaos. The demon had escaped.


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews, everyone. Sorry it took a while to get it updated. Just been busy with classes at college. In this chapter, there's going to be an encounter with Cloud and Dante, not too pleasing. Anyway, read and review please.**

* * *

**Chapter 3.**

The party in the Old Midgar City was still on as it grew later in the evening. Though it was starting to die down as people started to leave, taking their children home to put them to bed. Few still remained, still talking or dancing to the soft music. Off to the side, most of the orphen children that Tifa looked after was sitting around Reno, listening to stories that he was telling. Some of the children gasped at tense parts and laughed at funny parts. The Avalanche members all sat together, sharing stories of the latest adventures they had or talking about the past. That also included Rufus Shinra. He had finally finished his meeting with the Construction workers and went to listen to the great adventure his once known enemies had during the battle against Sephiroth. He didn't say anything, taking every word in that Cloud was telling him about why the defied Shinra Inc. in the first place. Still, everyone was enjoying theirselves.

"You know," started Cid Highwind, while taking a drink. "It's kind of sad that everything is settling down. Nothing's happening anymore. There's no threat, hardly no friggen monsters to fight, or bad guys to beat up. Life is just way too peaceful now. It's kinda un-nerving."

Cloud and the others all smiled and shook their heads. They somewhat agreed but disagreed. "I know, Cid, how you feel. But it feels nice that we don't really have to fight anymore. There's no threat against the Planet, everyone's happier than they've been a long time. They all deserve to be happy and don't need to be afraid every second because there's not threat." The blonde Avalanche Leader said. The others nodded in agreement. Tifa smiled as she wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes closed. "It's nice. I know it's gotten a little dull around here but we should take an advantage of it. We should do what we can until there is a threat on the Planet, hopefully it won't be too soon. Some day, something or someone will show up, wanting to take over the world," She shot Rufus a look, who gave her an annoyed look. "And Avalanche will be there to stop it and save the world again." She finished.

Barret folded his arms as he looked off towards Reno telling the children scary stories. He could see how scared the kids were and could see Yuffie's eyes wide with fear but excitement as the red headed Turk went on with his story. "Well, I'll tell you wha'. I'm gonna beat Reno black 'n blue if Marlene and Denzel has nightmares, tha's for damn sure!" He growled.

Everyone laughed as they looked in the direction of Reno and his little group. Rufus just shook his head as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, if you don't want a couple of little kids waking up late in the night, crying out in fear, I suggest you go over and stop him. Reno can tell a few scary stories to remember."

Cloud smirked as he looked at his old nemesis with amusement. "And I suppose you're just saying that out of experience?" he asked jokingly.  
Rufus gave him a cold stare as he picked up his glass of wine Tifa had given him. "Definitely not." He said in a huff and that made everyone just laugh or smile. They knew he was lying.

Barret grumbled as he shook his head, making his way towards the small group. He was grumbling about two things. One, Rufus Shinra. He still didn't like the fact that the Ex-President was hanging around when he was once their mortal enemy. The others couldn't blame him. They didn't trust Rufus Shinra still. The Avalanche members remembered how he had ordered their deaths just so that he could look good. The other thing was Reno. Barret did not want Reno to be telling scary stories to Marlene and then having her wake up screaming in her sleep. "I'll put a stop to it real quick then."

The others just smiled and shook their heads and watch the large black man move away from them, towards the red haired Turk. "Well, he hasn't changed too much has he?" Rufus said nodding towards Barret. Tifa shook her head. "Not too much, but he has. He just loves Marlene too much. If anything were to happen to her, he'd freak big time. But you can't blame him. Marlene is very special to him." She told the Ex-President. Red XIII smiled as he sat up, on his hind legs. "She's something special to all of us." He announced. The other Avalanche members nodded with smiles.

Rufus looked towards Marlene, a faint smile on his face. "Well, she sure seems like a sweet child."

Cloud on the other hand wasn't listening. He was frowning as he tilted his head to the side, listening very hard to something else. He could hear something off in the distance. Something was approaching them, but he wasn't sure what it was. He could almost hear wings beating the air, high above their heads. It could have just been bats flying high above the city, or birds staying up late in the night. Cloud started to look towards the sky, to see if he could see where the bats or birds were, just to be sure.

"And then, Marc slowly reached for the door as the pounding grew louder." Reno told his scary story, his hands above his head and fingers curled in a creepy way. "His heart was thumping hard against his chest. The pounding grew louder and louder. Was it the Boogey Monster or was it Coranna? He wasn't sure." The children around Reno drew back in fear, all eyes wide with excitement and some in fear. Marlene was clutching Denzel's tightly as she watched Reno telling the story. The slightly older boy just smiled as she moved closer to him, feeling her breath on his skin. He always found it amusing when Marlene did that. "Slowly, Marc reached up and took the doorknob, slowly turning it. And suddenly..."

Just as Reno's voice grew louder for the intensive scary part, there was a loud snarl above their heads, making all of the children and the Turk jump in surprise and fear. And from above their heads, something big and black fell from the darkened sky, landing right in the bonfire the children and the Turk had been sitting around. Hot coals and burning logs flew everywhere, making everyone scream and scatter very quickly. Everyone bolted as the large black creature rolled out from the fire, wings flapping in the air as it tried to move.

All of the grownups were already on their feet, weapons in hand and ready to fight whatever it was. They saw the black heap of leathery skin and wings. It took a few moments to let everything settle in.  
A large black creature had fell from the sky, snarling and growling in pain. By the looks of it, it was bleeding heavily and it was burned from falling into the bonfire. The creature was still growling in pain as it tried to roll out of the flames and burning debries. It was trying to get to its feet but was failing. It just fell back to the ground, gasping and growling.

Tifa was the first to realize on who it was. She gasped as she bolted forward and around her stand, rushing towards the black creature. "No!" She cried out. She felt Cloud grab her arm to stop her but she pulled away and just hurried over. "Cloud! It's Vincent!

Everyone blinked in surprise before they realized that she was right. They could see the detailed features of the demon as he laid near the burning logs, shaking from pain. They all bolted forward to see if he was still alive. The black wings of Chaos slowly changed from black to red, falling loosely like cloth and slowly, Vincent reappeared.

Tifa fell at his side, carefully lifting him up. Cloud joined her side, bent to one knee looking his old friend over carefully. They were both stunned by the state the mystical man was in. The others just stood around them, looking worried and shocked. They all wondered how he had gotten like this. It must have been something pretty nasty to hurt Vincent like this. They all knew that he was not a push over at all when it came to fighting monsters.

"Vincent, what happened?!" Cloud asked, touching his friend's shoulder. "Who did this to you?!"

Vincent flinched from the contact and also the pain but he slowly shook his head as he tried his best to stay awake. He could already see the darkness starting to creep up on him. "...de...A demon hunter..." He gasped through gritted teeth before he passed out from exhaustion and pain.

"Vincent!" Tifa said worriedly as she gently touched his neck. She could feel a pulse still but it was very weak. Her wine colored eyes looked up at Cloud, full of tears. "Cloud, he's starting to fade. We have to get him inside and fixed up."

Cloud nodded as he looked to Barret and Cid. "Right! Barret, Cid, help me carry him." He looked back at Tifa and Shera. "We're going to need a bed, Tifa, for him." He told her. Tifa nodded as she quickly stood once they had Vincent. "Okay." And she bolted towards The Seventh Heaven with Shera right behind her. Yuffie, Nanaki and Reeve quickly began gathering up the kids before they all hurried towards the bar and inn.

* * *

About an hour later, everyone was sitting downstairs in the bar, waiting for Tifa, Shera and Reeve to come back down for the results on Vincent. They were all quite solemn and talking quietly amongest theirselves about what might have happened to their tall and dark friend. Reno kept coming up with the excuse of Sephiroth or one of his remnents had come back but no one really listened to that option. 

Finally, the three came down, all looking tired and worried. There was some blood on their clothes but they really didn't pay too much attention to it. All three were wiping sweat from their brows and breathing heavily. Tifa still had tears in her eyes, which was also a little red but once the others had looked their way, she tried to give them a smile and failed.

Cloud was the first to stand and move over to her, still looking very worried. "How is he?" He asked, touching her elbow. Tifa sighed as she went to sit down with Cloud at her side.

Reeve and Shera doing the same. "He's resting now but really weak. He's lost a lot of blood. We almost lost him but he managed to stay with us." Reeve reported before digging into his pockets and holding up something. "I pull this out of him. It's some kind of bullet and it has an unusal design on it. We're not exactly sure what it is." He told Cloud.

Cloud went over and took the bullet from the old Shinra employee and examined it. His eyes squinted a little at the design of a woman with what looked like blades in her hands. It was just a little imprint in the side and it was amazing on how someone could put such a small imprint on a bullet of this size.

"Strange." commented Cloud.

Cid folded his arms and leaned against the bar counter, his eyes full of concern. "So what was wrong with him? What happened to him?"

Shera shook her head wearily, sinking onto a stool. "He was covered in bruises and cuts. Something had cut him up like meat on a chopping block. He has severe bruising but those will heal. Something sliced his side open pretty bad." She told everyone. "He's lucky that his insides hadn't fallen out. We stitched it up as much as we could then tried to heal him with a Cure Materia."

Tifa nodded as she sighed sadly, pouring strong drinks for everyone. "We don't really know what happened to him or who did this to him. He was in and out during the proceedure but couldn't really tell us anything. We can only guess." She said to everyone.

Barret folded his arms, a deep frown on his face. "Who could have done this to Vince though? He's one tough S.O.B. There is no way that someone simply did that to him. Something really big must have gotten a hold of him."

Cloud slowly shook his head as he took a drink from Tifa, his worry lines once again over his brow. "I don't know about that. It could have been something big but he did fine with Dark Bahamut when Kadaj set it on Edge. And that was the biggest monster we've ever fought, other than the Weapons. But they're not around anymore. We killed all of them. Whoever did this to Vincent, they must have been really good." He told everyone, still shaking his head.

Tifa tilted her head as she thought of something. "Vincent said something about a demon hunter in his sleep. He was really delirious while we worked on him. He kept saying demon hunters and said the name Dante a few times. But he couldn't answer any of my questions while Reeve and Shera patched him up." She explained to all the Avalanche members and the former Shinra President and employees. Everyone just frowned as they took it into thought. They didn't understand anything about what she might have meant.

"Dante...who in the frick is Dante?" Cid asked gruffly.

No one answered because they couldn't answer. They just looked around at everyone, wondering if the one or the other knew the answer. But no one spoke. Not even Rufus or the Turks. Then Cloud gritted his teeth as his eyes darkened. "I don't know who it is but whoever it is, I'm going to kill them. No one messes with one of our team and gets away with it. And it's more than likely Vincent's attacker knows that he's still alive." He said looking around quite seriously. "He may just come after Vincent if they really wants him dead. And when they do come, we'll be ready for them. In the mean time, I'm going to the Forgotten City to see if I can track him down myself. If we find him," His eyes grew very dark. "We'll take care of him and findout why he attacked Vincent."

Everyone just nodded as they looked at each other. Barret folded his arms over his chest. "I'll come wit' you, Spikey. I wanna piece of this guy for hurtin' Vincent." he told the blonde. Cloud nodded as he looked over at Cid and Nanaki. "Cid, Nanaki, you come too. If this guy can beat Vincent, then he's really good." He then turned his eyes onto Tifa. "Tifa, keep an eye on Vincent. Call me as soon as he wakes up and let me know how he's doing."

"Okay." answered Tifa.

Cloud looked over at Rufus. "Shinra, as much as I don't like you, or trust you, I want to ask you to stick around and keep an eye on the place. I know that Tifa can take care of herself but if this Dante shows up, she may need back up to protecting Vincent. I'm leaving Yuffie here too but I just want to take percautions." He told the Ex-President.

Rufus only nodded as he flipped his bangs out of his eyes. "Don't worry. We'll take care of the place. If this Dante fellow shows up, picking a fight, we'll be ready for him."

Cloud gave one nod before looking around at Barret, Cid and Nanaki. "Let's head out. The sooner we leave, we might be able to catch Dante still in the Forgotten City, or on the way here." He said. The other three nodded and they all soon left.

* * *

Far across the ocean, the spoken person was still in the Forgotten City, sitting by a fire to dry his clothes and highly annoyed at the moment. His target had gotten away and that didn't happen too much. Plus his clothes were soaked and water had gotten into his guns. He really did not like that at all. He treasured his guns and if anything were to happen to them, he would get very moody. He almost felt sorry for Vincent Valentine when he got a hold of him. The keyword; almost. 

Dante had hung up his red trench coat and black shirt near the fire so it could dry. He was cleaning his guns out, making sure they were going to work properly when he needed them again. He was making sure there was no more water inside the barrels and oiling them again. He wasn't even aware that someone was sneaking up behind him.

"I see you're still alive. But where's Valentine's body?"

Dante leapt to his feet, Alastor in his hand and ready to start swinging if needed to. His eyes narrowed dangerously and his body very tense. He stopped from swinging his sword because it was only his new employer, Jen. "Do not ever do that again." He warned sternly. "You should never, ever sneak up on me like that."

Jen raised her eyebrow at him, her thin arms folding over her chest and shifted her weight under herself. "I take it, with the mood you're in, that Valentine is still alive." She remarked. "And he escaped from you."

Dante gave her a dark look before he put Alastor back down and went back to his work with his Ivory and Ebony guns. "For the mean time." He told her. "I nearly had him but he flew away before I could finish him. He was seriously injured though. So be happy about that." He told her.

"I'll be more happier when he's dead." Jen said coldly, as she dropped her arms to her sides.

The white haired half demon ignored her as he looked into the barrels of his guns, looking right at the small lake through it. He frowned deeply before lowering the gun, his eyes still on the lake. "What is in there?"

Jen lazily glanced off to the lake before shaking her head. "Nothing. Why? Did you see something in there? If you did, it was probably the corpse of a woman who was killed for being such a fool." She remarked bitterly. Dante looked at her with a frown but then shook her head. "The corpse of a woman? What do you mean?"

"Never mind." Jen said shaking her head. "The corpse doesn't concern you. Stick to your priorities, Dante. You're here to kill Vincent Valentine. Not ask questions. I want that demon dead." She told him. She then paused, starting to realize something. "Wait a moment. Why does it concern you?"

Dante shook his head as he continued to stare at the lake. "When I was about to kill Valentine, something happened. The lake seemed to come to life and stopped me from chopping him to bits. It made me let him go." He told her.

Jen was quite for a long moment, taking in all of the information that she had just heard from Dante. A few seconds later, her eyes flashed dangerously towards him. "You haven't seen a woman wandering around this city, have you? A woman who looks exactly like me?" She asked, seriously. Dante just nodded as he looked up at her. "Yes. A woman who looks almost like you, light brown hair, lighter green eyes. She was wearing a pink dress. You have a sister wandering around here?" He asked simply. Jen did not seem very happy to hear that at all. Her eyes just narrowed and her lips pursed tightly. "Yes, actually I do have a sister here. And she's in league with Valentine. She will try to stop you from killing him, but don't worry about her. She's only a spirit. She died a long time ago. Here, actually. The corpse in the lake is hers. You see her again, just ignore her. She can't do anything to you but yap her mouth. Just make sure Chaos dies!" She told him before she turned and walked away into the darkness.

Dante watched her go before he shook his head and went back to cleaning his guns. He really did not like Jen because the way she ordered him around. He would have just told her to shut up and let him go back to his world, but he knew that he couldn't go back until the job was done. Jen was the only way of him returning to his world. He did wonder exactly why she talked about her sister like the way she just did. It sounded like she didn't like her at all.

After a long while of cleaning the guns, Dante set them aside and looked off into the dark trees. He was thinking to himself about his mission. He wondered where Valentine had gone and how far he did go. It was pretty obvious that he would be going to his friends for help and that did not settle too well with Dante. Like he really wanted to fight so many people just to get the damn job done. But he shrugged it off as he stood up and got into his pocket, pulling out something.

A strange white orb.

When in the water, Dante had spotted something glowing green at the bottom of the lake before he was freed from the lifeforce in the water. He ignored it for a while until he was sure that he was completely alone. After a half an hour, he had gone back in the water and dived all the way to the bottom of the lake to get whatever it was that was glowing. When he found it, he found that it was only a small white orb with a strange green glow about it. He wasn't sure what it was and what it was for but he liked it. He could feel some kind of magical essense inside it. So he went back up to the surface and climbed out of the water to dry his clothes.

Now, he was staring into the white stone, trying to see if he could find the source of its unusual power. It had stopped glowing after a while out of the water. Now it was just a white orb the size of a large marble.

"Hmm." Dante muttered with wonder, staring at the stone. "Interesting little piece aren't you?" He asked as if it were alive. He then looked down at his bare chest, at the amulate. He faintly smiled as he took it with his other hand and pulled out the fire jewel. He put the white stone in the empty slot, immediately feeling a strange power coming from the stone. It even starting glowing green again.

With a smile, Dante, put the fire jewel away into his pocket, studying the white one. But after a minute, he looked up at the dark sky, frowning again. A very serious look on his face as he thought about something.

"Something's fishy here. And I'm going to get to the bottom of this."

It was barely first morning's light when Dante decided to get a move on. He still had to try and find out where Valentine had gone off to and he was pretty sure that it would take a while to finding him. He wasn't sure how big this world actually was but it would take more than a day to finding his target. Dante left the ruined city, heading off towards the south, the direction that Valentine had gone in. He had to climb a large cliff though and then travel through a green forest.  
Thing was, as he went through the forest he felt a strange power within the trees. It also felt like he had been walking like forever. It was high noon before he grew very fed up and transformed into his demonic form. He took flight, flying higher than the trees to see how far he had gone. And to his great annoyance, he saw that he had hardly even moved. He was still very close to the Ancient City. Very peeved, Dante decided to fly his way out.

Not too long, he spotted some kind of camp near the city so he decided to check that out. He landed near the camp and went in only to find several people digging. It was some kind of digging expedition. Dante had never seen anything like it. There was strange and unusual bones lying every where and aged machines here and there.

Dante glanced off towards a group of people, who were talking to one another over something they had found. He figured that these people must have knew who Vincent Valentine was or must have seen him. He wondered if this was where the demon must have gone. He could have came here, transformed into his human form and asked for help. Dante figured that he could just find out. So he walked over to the group, immediately catching their attention. To his confusion, he saw fear in their eyes, as if they thought he was a villain coming to hurt them. They even moved back away from him, cowering.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Dante told them as he moved closer. "I just need information."

The braver of the group cleared his throat and walked over, trying to look brave. "You ain't no Sephiroth clone, are you?" He asked, hopefully. That made Dante frown but he shook his head. "No. I'm not." He said not even going to bother in asking on what a 'Sephiroth clone' was. The man just nodded looking very relieved as did the other people. They even went back to their work, letting their leader deal with the stranger. "Good. Welcome to Bone Village. What can I do for you, sir?"

Dante just shrugged as he tilted his head off to the side. "I'm looking for a man that might have come here last night. His name is Vincent Valentine. He's a tall, dark man. Kind of looks like a vampire. He was injured pretty bad last night. You see him?" he asked, watching the man carefully for any lies or uneasiness.

The man looked confused though. He just frowned, looking very puzzled and shook his head. "No. I'm afeared that we haven't seen any injured man. I was working last night and I didn't see no man. And I certainly don't know any Vincent Valentine. We don't really get very many visitors here. They mostly just pass through, not bothering in talking to us." he then looked off towards a woman wearing a purple uniform. "Hey! You were working the items shop this week. Have you seen a tall, dark man this week?"

The woman frowned as she walked over, scratching her head. "Huh? Tall, dark man?" She tilted her head, still scratching it before her eyes lit up. "Oh! There was this one man earlier in the week. He was a tall fellow, wearing a large red coat. Long black hair and the most eerie red eyes I've ever seen. He didn't speak very much. He just told me that if any one from Avalanche came looking for him that they could find him at the Forgotten City. I think he was studying something there." She told her boss and Dante.

"That would be him. Do you know where he's at? Or where he would be?" Dante asked.

The woman shook her head. "No. As I said, he comes and goes. He was up at the Forgotten City. But if he's not there, I don't know. He could be in Midgar City. I heard Vincent Valentine has friends there."

Dante felt himself smile at the news. He knew that must have been where Valentine went. He just nodded in satisfaction and lowered his head a little. "Midgar. Mind pointing the way?"

The woman nodded as she pointed off into the south. "The city is..."

"Where you're not going." Someone said coldly.

Dante and the two diggers turned around to see who said that and found three men and a lion creature walking towards them. A very unusual spikey blonde haired man in the lead and looking very unfriendly. He didn't seem to like Dante at all. The other two looked just as serious, and the lion creature had its fangs bared.

"That him, Red?" The blonde asked as they walked right up to Dante.

The lion creature nodded as his hackles raised a little. "I think so. His sense is the same that was all over Vincent." It spoke.

That did startle Dante a little. He had not expected the creature to actually talk. But then again, this was a different world and he wasn't from this place. The blonde turned his cool blue eyes back onto Dante, looking very serious before he took a step closer. "You. Are you Dante?"

The white haired half demon then smirked as he faced him completely, his icy blue eyes staring right into the tough looking blonde's. "Yeah. I am. You must be Chaos's friends. I figured that he would go running to you for help." He then put his fist on his waist, shifting his weight. "So where is he? I thought he might have come back to pay me back. Did he die? Cause if he did, then my mission is complete."

Cloud glared harder at this man, his teeth clenched tightly and his hand immediately grabbed one of his swords on his back. He did not like the way this man was talking about his friend. "No, Vincent is alive. But you nearly did kill him. We managed to save his life when he showed up last night." He then glared harder when Dante sighed impatiently. "And you are not going near him again! In fact, you are going to pay for the pain you put him through!"

"Please," Dante said impatiently standing straight. "You going to stop me? You're only human. I've got a job to do, now why don't you just bug off and let me kill him."

Barret growled, his gun arm snapped to life and aiming at Dante, who looked alert immediately. "He's our pal, that's why! We don't let anyone get away with hurting our friends!" He snapped. Cid nodded, shouldering his spear. "Got that right! You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us." He added.

Dante rose an eyebrow before he reached up and grabbed a hold of Alastor's handle. "Look, my business is with Valentine alone. I don't have any business with you. But if you get in my way, then I will have to kill you. Don't make me do that." He told them. Cloud shook his head as he whipped out his sword, slicing the air. "No can do. Just as Cid just said. You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us." He said coldly. His sudden actions had made Dante whip out his own sword, holding it up. "Well, then. I'm just going to have to get the complications out of the way. I had no intention to killing you, man, but you're not really giving me a choice."

"No, not really. You don't give us a choice. The minute you attacked Vincent and hurt him like you did, you made the choice of facing us." Cloud warned him.

Dante shrugged before he stood ready. "Whatever, man. Let's just fight so I can go track down Chaos and kill him."

There was a long moments pause before both Cloud and Dante charged at one another, swinging their blades while Barret, Cid and Nanaki was just going to step back and let Cloud deal with this so called demon hunter until he needed the help. The swords crashed against one another, sending sparks flying and Cloud nearly stumbling back. He was stunned on the power Dante had just thrown into his swing. He had not been expecting him to be that strong. He barely had time to ducking under Dante's swinging blade. He quickly reacted by swinging his own sword.

Unfortunately, Dante showed that he was much faster than Cloud expected. The demon hunter jumped high into the air, flipping over his head. Cloud jerked around and rose his sword just as Dante swung at him.

The white haired man was smirking. "You're going to be a whole lot easier to beat." He told the blonde before he began to kick into over drive. Cloud did his best to deflecting each attack that Dante was throwing at him, and it took a lot. He couldn't believe on how fast this Dante was.

The two swordsmen kept on moving, startling poor frightened diggers out of their wits as they came close to being slashed. But they soon learned on how much control these two fighters had. When one or othe other came close to slashing a digger, they immediately pulled away not slashing any of them. Cloud and Dante quickly took their battle towards the edge of town, away from the people. But they kept on fighting.

Barret, Cid and Nanaki winced as they watched Cloud come very close to getting his arm cut off by Dante's blade. They hadn't expected the Dante fellow to be this good. "Damn! This ain't good!" The big black man said as they watched the two just go at it. Nanaki sat on his hind quarters, frowning. "Cloud's barely hanging on. This man is much better than we thought. But how is it even possible? Could he be a Sephiroth remnant? If he was, Cloud should be able to defeat him. He defeated Sephiroth and Kadaj."

"Maybe this guy's bigger than Sephiroth." Cid said worriedly.

Barret shook his head, swearing under his breath. "Well, if he is, then we're going to be jumping in real quick. 'Cause Cloud's gonna need some help in a minute. That Dante dude seems to be only playing with him. He hasn't stopped smiling yet."

And it was true. Since Cloud and Dante started fighting, the white haired demon hunter had been smiling at the blonde. It was like he was taunting his opponment. It seemed to pissing Cloud off even more as he fought the demon hunter. He just kept on swinging, sweat beads starting to roll down the sides of his face as he kept on moving. It was a dangerous dance of sword play and it seemed to be some kind of game for this guy and Cloud didn't like it.

However, the battle was going to end soon.

Cloud misread a move that Dante had made only to relieze that he was trying to trap the blonde into doing something and he fell for it. Because Dante immediately faked to the side and came very close to cutting Cloud's head off. But it shocked Cloud even more when he didn't. He had stopped from cutting into Cloud's skin.

"Do yourself a favor and say uncle, man. I don't want to kill someone who's only blind of his friend's trechery. I kill evil demons, it's my job. I get paid doing it. But you are not a demon and I don't like killing people." Dante said coolly.

Cloud glared into the white haired man's eyes as he slowly shook his head. "You don't like killing people, huh? Well you're going to if you kill Vincent. He is not an evil demon. He is only the host of four demons and he has done nothing wrong. Why are you trying to kill him? What did he ever do to you?" He asked just as coldly.

Dante just frowned at that. It was true that the man, Valentine hadn't done anything to him and he usually didn't kill people who didn't. "He didn't do anything to me. It's what he did to my employer. I'm just doing what she asked and serving judgement to the demon that killed her mother, that's all. I'm the good guy just doing what's right."

Cloud frowned at him. "Killing Vincent isn't right. He did nothing wrong and he did not kill any one. Not a woman, anyway." He told the demon hunter, before his eyes lit up. He had heard Nanaki starting his charge with a roar. He could even see Barret and Cid starting to charge. And apparently Dante sensed them because he jumped high into the air away from Cloud, to avoid the end of Cid's spear. All four Avalanche members whirled around to look up at where Dante had jumped to. And their surprise, he was in a tree and had now pulled out his guns and they were trained on them. "Do yourselves a favor and stay out of my way!" He warned before he turned and jumped tree to tree, leaving the four surprised fighters.

Nanaki started to run after him but Cloud called him back. "Wait, Red. He's gone. We'll find him later."

The other three looked at their blonde friend, who slid the sword away. "What's up, Cloud? Why'd you stop Nanaki? Dante's going to kill Vincent." Cid said, still looking after the demon hunter.

Cloud slowly shook his head. "I don't know, Cid. Something's not right. Dante just said that he's the good guy. I don't think he actually knows what's going on with Vincent." He frowned before looking towards the Forgotten City. "I think it's best that we let him go for a while. It's going to take him a while to find Vincent anyway and by the time he does find him, we'll be back in Midgar. Besides, I want to go check out the city. Maybe he left something there that might help us find out who he is and who he's working for."

The other three looked at one another before nodded. "All 'ight, Cloud. I just hope you're right. I don't want to see Vincent get hurt because of this guy." Barret said. The blonde sighed looking off towards Midgar. "I know, Barret. But let's just hope he can hold on a little longer. Just until we get back."


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey, everyone. I'm so sorry for not updating sooner. I was having a little trouble with my computer. But I'm back and ready for more action. Anyway, read and review please and again, sorry for the late update.**

* * *

Chapter 4

Vincent jerked awake from the nightmare he was just having, his heart pounding against his chest and his eyes looking wildly around the room. He had just been dreaming about his fight with Dante, and he had failed to defend himself completely, much like what he did the night before. It took a minute to recognize the room he was in. If hadn't been for the picture of Avalanche on the wall, he wouldn't have realized where he was. He couldn't exactly remember how he got there. He only remembered how he flew away from the Forgotten City, injured badly than he ever had been. He also remembered how he reached the city and then his vision failed him, causing him to hit a construction girder and he fell right into the flames of a bonfire. He didn't remember too much after that. Only that he heard screaming then heard Cloud and Tifa trying to talk to him. Not much after that, only that he drifted in and out of his terrorfying dreams, hearing Tifa speak to him softly and carressing his hand as Reeve and Shera were trying to take care of his wounds. But nothing after that.

His red eyes flickered over to the sleeping form Tifa, who was right next to the bed he had slept on. Her head was resting on her arms and her eyes were closed. She looked so peaceful when she slept. It seemed to Vincent that she had been by his side all night long, staying with him while he rested. It almost made him smile. That was the thing about Tifa. She cared so much about everyone, even to him. A demonic person, in his opinion.

Vincent winced a little as he tried to sit up, not wanting to disturb her as she slept. He wasn't really sure how late she had stayed up just to watch over him. He looked down at his bare chest only covered with bandages, noting on how badly bruised he was. But it was slowly healing. He reached up and touched the area where Dante had stabbed him. He remembered how big the gash had been. It was now gone, leaving only tender muscle and a bruise.  
Once again, Vincent glanced at Tifa before carefully pushing the blankets off of him and he slid off the bed, keeping an eye on Tifa. He didn't want to wake her if she was too tired. Without a sound, he moved over to his shirt and his red cloak, which was neatly folded over the chair by the desk. He noted that they had been cleaned and it made his lips curve a little, knowing exactly who was responcible for this bit. He also noticed how his pants were also clean and fixed up as if they were never torn. He decided to not even think about how they got cleaned. He just began pulling on his shirt and red cloak.

It was only then did Tifa decide to wake up.

Tifa's eyes fluttered open when she had moved her arm by accident only to not touch Vincent's side. She realized that he was no longer in the bed and that was what made her sit up and look at the small dip in the bed. Then she looked across the room, spotting him fixing his face guard. She just watched him thoughtfully. Vincent eventually realized that she was awake, letting his ruby eyes flicker over to her before going back to concentrating to binding his face guard in place. There was a long silence as he finished. Then he lowered his hand and golden claw as he turned to face her completely. His ruby eyes looking into her wine colored ones.

"...Thank you for washing my clothes and mending them, Tifa." He said quietly.

Tifa faintly smiled as she stood. "You're welcome, Vincent. How're you feeling? Are you sure you want to be up and about?" She asked him. Vincent turned away, looking towards the window. "I'm feeling much better. I think most of my strength has returned." Though he wasn't sure if that was true himself. "Who brought me here?"

"Chaos did, I think. Reeve, Shera, and I cleaned you up and healed your wounds." Tifa said before frowning. "Vincent, who did that to you? Who attacked you like that?"

Vincent went quiet for a long moment before he turned his eyes onto her, choosing not to answer her question just yet. "Where's Cloud?" he asked instead. Tifa shook her head as she moved around the bed to stand in front of him. "He went out to the Forgotten City to find out what happened and to find out who attacked you. Barret, Cid and Nanaki went with him. You kept mentioning a name while you were out of it. Who's Dante, Vincent?"

Vincent's brow creased a little as his eyes flickered to the ground, no doubt frowning just as deep. "He's a demon hunter. Or that's what he called himself. He was hired by someone to kill Chaos. And in any case, me." he told her.

"A man did this to you?" Tifa asked thoughtfully, yet frowning.

Vincent slowly shook his head. "No. He wasn't just a man. He wasn't human. I believe he was a demon. He transformed into a demon much like Chaos." He said. Tifa frowned at that. "A demon? A demon who hunts demons? That's weird." She said. Vincent nodded as he looked away just as thoughtful. "It's strange, I know. He was a very powerful demon though. He was too powerful and fast. I just hope that Cloud and the others don't meet him."

Tifa tilted her head to the side. "I would think Cloud could take care of himself. So can Barret, Cid and Nanaki. Cloud's beaten Sephiroth twice." She told him. The Ex-Turk shook his head as he looked at her seriously. "Not this one, Tifa. Dante was way too fast and powerful. With each hit I did to him, he only healed it. Cloud will not be a match for him." He told her. Tifa now looked worried. "Do you really think so?"

"It took everything I had to make sure he didn't kill me." Vincent honestly said.

Tifa let out an unsteady breath before she reached into her pocket and pulled out her mobile phone. "I think I should call them. Tell them that you're awake and what you know." She said. Vincent only nodded as he watched her dial the number and wait.

After a long minute, Tifa straightened as if something happened. "Cloud, it's me. I called you to let you know Vincent's awake." She said onto the phone. There was a pause. "Hm? Oh yes. He's okay. He's up and walking around. He just told me who tried to kill him." She paused again before nodding. "Okay." She looked at Vincent. "You up to talking to Cloud?"

Vincent just nodded as he went over and took her phone from her. Then he placed it against his ear. "Cloud?"

_"Vincent, you all right?"_ Cloud asked.

Vincent nodded as if he could see him. "I'm fine. Don't worry too much about me." He answered, hearing Cloud snort with humor.

_"I should have guessed so." _Cloud said, pausing for a brief second. _"We met Dante by the way. A real asshole if you ask me. Cockier than hell."_

Vincent tensed at the very news. "You met Dante? So you found him at the Forgotten city?" He saw Tifa tense up herself and he knew that she was worried.

_"No. He was in Bone Village, just leaving the Forgotten city. We found him there trying to find out where you could have gone. I tried telling him off before getting into a fight with him. He's definitely a tough opponment. I almost couldn't keep up with him." _Cloud told him.

Vincent frowned. "So you fought him. He didn't hurt you, did he?" He asked, sounding just mildly concerned. He was also asking for Tifa's behalf because she was looking very worried.

_"Surprisingly, no." _Cloud answered. _"While we fought, I had a feeling he was only playing with me. He was smiling the entire time and it was kind of annoying. He came very close to cutting my head off with that sword of his but for some reason he stopped. He just warned me to stay out of his way when he finds you. But I'm not going to give him the benefit. He didn't seem to want to kill me. Only you. But damn, Vince. He was nearly as fast as Sephiroth. And when I first saw him, I thought he could have been a remnant. You don't think he was, do you?" _

Vincent was quiet for a long moment before he shook his head as if Cloud could see him, again. "No. I don't think he was a remnant at all. He didn't seem too concerned about what we did to Sephiroth or Jenova. I don't even think he knows who they even are. He doesn't seem to be from here, Cloud."

On his side of the phone line, Cloud was quiet for a minute as he tried to think. He couldn't help but look worried about the whole ordeal. "You mean, he's some kind of alien or something?"

_"I'm not sure, Cloud. He could be. But he doesn't seem to be any alien we're familiar with. Stranger as it may seem, he must be some kind of demon. During our fight, he turned into a demon much like Chaos and attacked with such speed that we can only imagine. And every time I slashed him, his wound only healed. It was like he had a constant Reagan spell being cast over and over again. He never slowed down, never tired. And in his demon form, he seemed to be more faster and more stronger. I fear that we might have found our greatest challenge." _Vincent told Cloud.

* * *

Cloud only frowned as he looked away. He didn't like the sound of this at all. This Dante was a dangerous foe to be fighting. And he really wanted to know why Dante's employer wanted to kill Vincent. He then shook his head as he turned his attention back to the phone. "I don't like this, Vincent. I don't like it at all. I think before we head back to Midgar, we're going to go to the city and take a look around. Maybe Dante's employer is still hiding there. If we can find them, we might be able to find out how to stop Dante from getting to you. In the mean time, try to lay low until we get back." He told his friend. "I know you can take care of yourself but if this Dante is really, really bad as you think, you might need help." 

_"I understand." _There was a pause from Vincent. _"Cloud...thank you." _

The blonde swordsman just smiled faintly and shook his head. "Wow, Vincent. Maybe you have been hanging out with us too much. You're actually thanking us." He could almost see the smirk on Vincent's face. "And I sense that smirk."

_"Hmph. Funny, Cloud." _chuckled the dark Ex-Turk. _"Just be careful. It would be another sin on my shoulders if anything were to happen to you and the others on my behalf." _

Cloud smiled even more and shook his head. "You and your damn sins. You really need to get out more often, you know that. Anyway, we're going to take off. You just heal up and keep an eye out for Dante. We'll be back as soon as we can."

_"Very well, Cloud."_ Vincent answered before there was a click and the line went dead.

Cloud closed his mobile and slid it into his pocket. He just stood there for a minute, knowing that Barret, Cid and Nanaki was watching. He just frowned before looking towards them. "We're going on ahead to the Forgotten City. Dante's employer might still be there. If they are, we'll capture them and force Dante to give up on his mission to killing Vincent. And maybe question them about why they hate him." He said. The other three nodded and they began up the trail towards the city.

An hour later, the four found their way into the Forgotten City and began their search. But when none of them found anything, they stood near the small lake, staring around. Cid had spotted the remains of Dante's camp fire so he went to investigate it. He also found the footprints of two different people. One no doubt belonged to Dante but he wasn't sure about the other. Nanaki didn't recognize the smell either so he couldn't say anything about it. He tried to follow the trail but it vanished at the edge of the lake.

"Man, there's nothing here." Cid growled as he went back over to where Cloud and Barret were standing.

Barret shook his head as he folded his powerful arms. "We should probably head back to Midgar and keep an eye out for Dante while Vince is trying to heal completely. Whaddya think, Cloud?"

Cloud didn't answer. He was too busy looking into Aeris's Lake with a deep frown on his face. His eyes were squinted a little as if he was trying to find something in the water. There was something wrong there. He could feel something missing in this place. Like something had been taken from the lake, something that shouldn't have been taken. There was no feeling of peace or safety as it always felt ever since Aeris died. There was no feeling of protection either. Cloud did not like it at all.

"Yo, Cloud! Snap outta it. Whatchu lookin' at anyhow?" Barret asked nudging the blonde's shoulder.

Cloud blinked before tilting his head towards Barret before he shook it and looked back into the crystal clear water, seeming to search for something. "There's no on here, Barret. Dante's employer is probably heading towards Midgar too. We should get back right now, prepare for another fight with them. We might have to kill Dante if he tries to hurt Vincent again. Because of him, everyone is in danger. Even Marlene."

Barret growled at that as he immediately started heading back. "Sh-it! In that case, let's go now!" He said as he went. Cid and Nanaki both nodded and followed after him.

Cloud turned to follow but after a few steps away from the lake, he stopped. He could feel eyes on his back and that made him alert. Slowly, he turned back and looked around before his eyes landed on a large gray wolf standing at the water's edge. It surprised him to see it there. He had not seen it before. Where had it come from and when did it even arrive?

The wolf was staring right back at Cloud, its head held up high and its ears aimed directly at him. It surprised Cloud even more to see how blue the wolf's eyes were. The eyes reminded him of an old friend's.

"Zack?" He whispered.

The wolf shifted its ears and lowered its head a little but it didn't move. Cloud narrowed his eyes before turning towards it and walked over. The wolf didn't move an inch. It just stared right into his eyes, lifting its head again as Cloud moved closer. The blonde stopped before it, still looking into its eyes before he slowly shook his head. "If you're showing up, then something must be wrong." He whispered to the wolf. And for a brief moment, he thought he heard something. A whisper of some sort.

_"...Dante...being used. He's...good..."_

Cloud narrowed his eyes again before he slowly nodded. He seemed to be understanding something. He wasn't sure where that whisper came from or who said it, but it must have meant something. His eyes lit up again and he turned his head when he heard the others coming back.

"Yo! Spike-head! You comin'?!" Barret called. "We gotta get back now!"

The blonde just looked back at the wolf before frowning even more. The wolf was gone. It had vanished, leaving no footprints for him to see. That was strange enough for Cloud. So he turned around and walked towards the other three, nodding. "Yeah. Let's get going. We have to find Dante."

* * *

The spoken half demon, however, had already arrived in Midgar, looking up at the city remains. He was frowning deeply as he looked at all of the ruined buildings and sky scrapers. He didn't like the looks of this place. It reminded him of his own city that he hunted in. This place was too much like home that it almost seemed like his home. There was only one difference. His city was not as big as this one was. But it was obvious that it had its terrible past. Something really bad must have happened to this new world he was in. And he was wondering what could have happened. 

After his battle with Cloud Strife, Dante had been jumping tree to tree, trying to get away before he decided to make a quick turn around. He still did not know where Vincent Valentine had gone and there was a possibility that Cloud and his companions might say something about his whereabouts. So he went back and hid in a tree, listening to what the four Avalanche members were saying, learning the name of the city that Vincent had gone to. He wasn't really sure where he could find this Midgar City but he knew that if he found someone, they might be able to tell him.

And that's what he did.

He found a wandering merchant and asked for the directions of Midgar City, pretending he had gotten lost while travelling. The merchant pointed the way and the half demon went on his merry way.

Now, he was there. He had found it. And he was clearly not satisfied with what he saw.

With a frown, Dante took another look at the destroyed metropolious before walking towards it. He walked straight into a section of the city where only few people were living. It was sad to see how these people were living now. He could see several people wandering the uneven streets or talking with one another. But what surprised him more was the looks he was getting from them. Some looked angry or scared and there were some whispering to one another but Dante was pretty sure it was him they were talking about. They were watching him as he went.

He, however, did hear one shout towards him, saying, "Hey, you! Sephiroth clone! Why don't you go back to hell where you came from!"

That made Dante turn and look right at the man who said that, frowning in confusion. He wasn't even sure why these people were looking at him like they were.

"Yeah! Your kind has done enough to us as it! Why don't you leave us alone?!" A woman hissed at him as he turned and started to walk on. Dante decided to try and ignore them now. These people obviously thought he was someone else and it was probably better to ignore them other than correct them. It would probably just provoke them into attack him and getting hurt in return. And he would have just continued to ignore them if only one man didn't pick up a large stone and hurl it at him.

Dante sensed it coming before it even left the man's hand. He just frowned before spinning around and catching it in one hand like it was nothing. He gave the attacker an icy glare, making him back away in fear. The other people also did the same. Some turned and ran while others cringed, knowing that this was a Sephiroth clone, they were dead, so why run? But the half demon just shook his head moodily before dropping the stone and walking on. He wasn't going to even bother talking to a single person in this city. The taunts stopped though. No one dared to continue badgering this man.

Dante wandered further into the city, a little ways from any people. He was getting more annoyed with all the looks they were giving him and even more annoyed that he couldn't find anyone who knew Vincent Valentine here. He wondered where he had gone. But then he started to wonder exactly how big this city was.  
So he decided to find out.  
He walked straight to a very tall building with an old sign that read _Shinra Inc. Headquarters_ before he leapt high into the air and catching a metal beam sticking out of the building. He climbed up and went on jumping higher and higher until he reached the top, or what was left of it. He found a nice ledge that pretty much overlooked the entire city, and his mouth fell open with such surprise.

The city of Midgar was enormous, a whole lot bigger than he had expected. It seemed to stretch for miles. But most of the city laid in ruins. Buildings were collapsed or were half way standing, much like the one he was standing on top of. By the looks of it, no one could be living in this place and something had destroyed the entire city. There, however, was a section in the far east that looked like it was inhabited by people. There was some kind of construction going on there.

Dante frowned as he eyed that area carefully. That must have been where Valentine was hiding. But before he would go, he wanted to get a look around the city. So he turned in all directions to see exactly how big the city was and found that it was entirely big. The building he was standing on seemed to be the very heart of the remaining city. Dante couldn't help but wonder exactly what happened to this place.

Just then, his sharp demonic senses caught something far below. He could hear something. So out of instincts, he looked down.

Thousands of feet below him, his sharp eyesight caught sight of people wandering around the remainders of the building. And judging by the size of those people, they were only children. They were playing among the ruins, not even aware that there was someone watching them from high above their heads.

Interested, Dante dropped down to a lower ledge, then another and another until he was at least fifty feet high above their heads. He wanted to get closer to see these children. It had been a very long time since he actually last seen a child. There wasn't very many in the city he protected. In fact, the last time he ever saw a child had been his younger twin brother, Vergil. And that had been when they were 14 years old. After that, he had never really seen another child again. All thanks to the demons that he hunted and killed.  
Dante crouched low on the ledge he was on, hiding behind a slab of concrete. His eyes looking over the group of six children.

Two boys were playing monkey in the middle with a girl's doll, who was complaining loudly and jumping up and down to try to get her doll back. "Come on, guys! Give it back!" She cried, jumping up and down, her fingers just barely missing the doll as it soared above her head.

The boys only laughed more before one of them decided he'd had enough. He gave the doll back to the girl, who snatched it back with annoyance. "Ah, you're no fun, Ani. We're bored." The other boy complained. The girl Ani gave him a reproachful look as she hugged the strange doll close to her. "So? I am too but I don't want you to be tossing Moggie around!"

"So, what are we going to do now?" another boy asked.

None of the children said anything as they tried to think of a game they could play until a brown haired boy sitting by a black haired girl pointed at the building that Dante was sitting on. "Hey, let's explore the Shinra building. Maybe we'll find treasure in there." He said. The girl beside him giggled and bounced on her slab of stone. "Yeah! Let's go find treasure!" She said cheerfully. The other four shrugged and nodded. "Okay. That's a good idea, Denzel. Maybe Shinra left some money lying arould." One of the boys who had been playing with Ani's doll said. So all six walked towards the building, still noticing the stranger watching them.

Dante, who was still interested, stood up and crept back into the ruins, ducking under fallen slabs of stone. He wanted to see what these children were up to. He followed the children through the ruins, keeping an eye on them through holes in the ruined walls. He could already see that it was dangerous to even be in this building. It was so ruined that it could probably collapse any minute. But it didn't seem to bother the children at all as they made their way into the ruins. Dante just kept his eyes on the children as they climbed over slabs of concrete, some having to slide on their rear ends to get down.

"Marlene! Be careful! You'll trip." The brown haired boy, Denzel said as he helped his black haired friend down a slab of stone. The girl only giggled as she let him help her. "Thanks, Denzel."

The six children wandered in a more enclosed area, where there stood several aged cages, some broken while others were still together. Dante frowned when he saw them. "What the hell?" He muttered to himself. He wondered why there were cages in a place like this.

As if thinking the same thing as he was, one of the boys moved forward with a look of wonder on his face. "What is this?" he asked curiously.

The six children moved over to the cage and looked it over. "Cool! We can play Dungeons in this!" The girl Marlene said cheerfully. Denzel scratched his head as he studied the cages. "I don't know. I don't think we should play in these. It could be dangerous." He told all the others. Some of the boys sniggered as they playfully pushed Denzel. "Don't be such a wuss, Denzel. It's only a cage. Come on. Let's play Dungeons now. Who's going to be the evil Jenova? And who's going to be the evil sons?" One boy asked. The girl, Ani rose her hand. "I'll be Jenova!" She told them.

The other children nodded as they looked around. Three of the other boys rose their hands. "Okay, I'll be Kadaj. Kenji, you be Loz, since you're the biggest out of us. And you be Yazoo, Ric." The oldest boy of them said.

Ani smiled brightly as she pointed at Marlene. "Marlene, you get to be Aeris the Flower girl! You play that part so well!" She said. Marlene giggled as she jumped up and down. "Okay! Which leaves Denzel to be Cloud! Let's play now!" She told everyone.

And soon they got into their game.

High above their heads, Dante sat down on a ledge and watched with interest. He couldn't help but smile as he watched them play their game. It had been such a long time since he last played a game with Vergil. When had it been? He couldn't remember. This game that these children were playing was also very interesting. He couldn't help but listen to the story that was unfolding below him.

The story they were playing was about a beautiful flower girl, Aeris, who travelled place to place, helping people. During her travels, she met a handsome hero named Cloud and they became good friends. During the time, Aeris was kidnapped by an evil, jealous witch named Jenova and her goons were three brothers, Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo. From what Dante was hearing, Jenova was jealous of Aeris' beauty and wanted to lock her up forever. But the hero, Cloud, kept trying to save his dear friend from her evil clutches. For he had fallen in love with her.

As the story kept unfolding, Dante watched with great wonder as Denzel, who played Cloud, defeated the three evil brothers, one by one, before moving over to Ani, who was the evil witch, Jenova.

"Release Aeris, witch! Or taste my mighty sword!" Denzel shouted as he pointed a stick at Ani.

Ani held up her Mog doll and made a hissing sound. She quickly moved to stand between Denzel and Marlene, who was standing inside the cage, clutching the bars. "No! I shall not release the Flower Girl! She shall die in my dungeons!" She then smirked as she held up her Mog high above her head. "If you want her, Cloud the Hero, you must defeat me and my son, Sephiroth!" She cried out. But then she pulled a face as she held the Mog close her again. "Actually, don't hurt my Mog." She added.

In the cage, Marlene giggled while the others laughed.

Denzel, who was smiling, charged with the stick in his hands. Ani charged too and they began to 'attack' one another. Both moving very slowly as they swung the stick and Mog, mostly in slow motion, they had a 'long' battle. Finally Denzel stuck the stick under her arm, pretending to kill her. Ani slowly fell to her knees, gasping before 'dying'. And the hero of the story won the fight but not before he was poisoned.

"Cloud! Don't die, please!" Marlene cried out her part from the cage. She held out her hand to Denzel, who staggered over, pretending to be very sick and took her hand. He faked coughs as he leaned against the cage door. "Aeris! I've come to free you. I'm sorry for not coming sooner. But now I die from the Geostigma that Jenova has poisoned me with." He faked another cough fit. Marlene's eyes grew wide in the act as she pretended to cry. "No! I won't let you die! Not for me! I shall heal you!" She said placing her hands on Denzel's head and hummed a gently lullibye. After a few minutes of humming, her eyes opened brightly and she smiled. "Okay! Now you're healed, Denzel!" She told him.

Denzel sat up with a bright eyed look as he looked at his hands. "I'm alive! You saved me, Aeris!" He stood up and grabbed the door. "And now, my flower girl, I save you from your dungeon. I free the flower girl!" And he pulled at the door.

But it clanged in protest, for it was locked.

Smiles faded immediately from both Marlene and Denzel's faces as the young boy pulled at the door again. The door only clanged again and refused to open. "Uh-oh!" He gasped.

The other four stood up and went over with frowns. "What's wrong?" Ani asked. Denzel shook his head as he began pulling on the door, rattling it but it still refused to open. "It's locked!" He said now trying to kick at the bars. Marlene was starting to panic, pushing on the door. "Open it! Why won't it open?!" She gasped. The other four grabbed the door and helped Denzel pull at the door, trying to free Marlene.

Above, Dante just smirked and shook his head. He found this a little funny to watch. The poor kids hadn't thought that the lock was still active on the cage. With a shrug, he stood up, deciding he would reveal himself to them just to help Marlene get freed. But as soon as he was standing and ready to go help, he froze.

There was a sudden movement far across from where he was sitting, just a little lower from his level.

The half demon frowned as he stared in that spot where he had seen the movement but didn't see anything else. He sensed that something was there. There was something invisible on the wall, slowly creeping down the ruins. Dante's eyes hardened as he reached up and grabbed Alastor's handle.

Suddenly there was a loud thud as if something dropped down from where Dante had been looking, making the six children jerk around to look to see what it was. Even Dante's eyes widened as he looked down. He hadn't seen it move at all.

It was something invisible, with only an outline and a shadow under it but none of the children none of the children noticed. They just looked around with fearful eyes. The invisible creature began to snarl as sparks began to run around on its body, and slowly it revealed itself. And when it reappeared, all six children screamed in fear.  
It was a large creature with the features of a badly scared badger and a Behemoth. Its fur was deep brown with black strips everwhere on its body. Large claws protruded from its toes, looking very sharp.

The four children, other than Denzel and Marlene, immediately turned and fled but Denzel stayed. He wasn't about to let Marlene stay alone and get eaten by this monster. He reached in the cage and clutched Marlene's hand who tried to push him away. "Denzel! Run! Go get help!" She cried. Denzel shook his head as he moved forward, grabbing the stick he had used before. "No! I won't leave you!" He held up the stick as if to hit the monster. "Go away! Leave us alone!" He yelled at the monster. The monster snarled at him before swiping its large claws at the young boy, hitting him to the side easily. Denzel flew over into a slab of stone and crumpled to the ground while Marlene screamed his name. "DENZEL!" She screamed before she looked up at the monster moving forward. She quickly moved back and leaned against the other side of the cage, trying to stay away from it as much as she could. There were tears starting to trail down her cheeks as she looked helplessly around. "He-help! S-someone….." She begged silently.  
The monster snarled again before starting to lunge at the cage with drool dripping from its sharp fangs. It was eager to having this young girl as a snack.

Just then, Dante dropped down in a blur of red, flipping over the monster and landing in front of the monster, Alastor slashing the air once to stop the monster's charge. The monster did stop from charging, looking surprised at the intrusion. "Hey, ugly. Why not try to eat something a little bigger than the girl." Dante said smirking. "Say like, me."

The monster snarled at him before charging, swinging its claws at him. Dante moved quickly to the side before bring Alastor down hard, slicing through the monster's wrist. The monster gave a deafening scream of rage and pain as it jerked back, sending blood flying every where. Dante winced a little as blood slapped against his boots before he flipped his sword over his shoulder, putting it back into its place. Without hesitation, he yanked out his handguns and began firing several rounds into the monster.

Suddenly, the monster vanished, but the growls remained.

Dante stopped firing with a frown. He knew it was still there because of the growls but where. Then he noticed the river of blood falling out of no where and the shadow. With a smirk, Dante raised his guns again and fired.

Blood began to splatter the walls behind the monster before it snarled in pain, reappearing. It tried to charge again but Dante wouldn't stop firing. He then leapt into the air, still firing before quickly putting one of his guns back into its holster and pulled Alastor again. With a mighty swing, the sword cut right through the monster's neck, chopping the head right off.

Surprisingly to Dante, the monster burst into whisps of blue light and vanished. He landed on his feet and jerked around looking for the monster. But he felt its presence leaving. It was gone.

Dante paused for a long time before turning around, sheathing Alastor and moved over to the cage where Marlene was curled up into a fetal position. Her arms tightly wrapped around her knees and she looked up at him with fear. She drew back even more as he approached but he didn't seem to notice. He just paused in front of the cage's door, looking her over before grabbing the bars and yanking them. With a loud clang, the door snapped right off. He threw the cage door to the side as if it was nothing but a small rock.

Marlene cringed as he put a boot inside the cage and reached for her. She couldn't stop the whimper of fear in her throat, and the mighty flinch.

Dante didn't grab her though. He didn't even touch her. He just held out his hand for her to take his. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." He said as softly as he could manage. He wasn't used to speaking softly at all. Marlene blinked several times before she slowly reached out and took his. She watched this stranger carefully as he gave her a nod and helped her stand up. Then he helped her out of the cage, while looking her over for any injuries. Seeing none, he let go of her hand, keeping a gentle look on his face. "Are you all right?"

Marlene slowly nodded before her eyes grew wide and she jerked around to look for Denzel. She found him lying on the ground, motionless. "Denzel!" She cried out before running over to him.  
Dante watched her go before take a few swift strides to bend down beside her and the boy. Denzel was still not moving as Marlene grabbed his shoulder and tried to shake him awake. "Denzel! Wake up, please! Please be okay!" She cried out. She then turned her soft brown eyes onto Dante, in a pleading way. "Please! Help him!" She begged.

Dante glanced at her before he touched the boy's neck. He could feel a gentle pulse, so he was alive. The white haired man nodded in satisfaction before he turned the boy over and looked for his injuries. There was a bloody lump on Denzel's forhead but nothing else. Dante nodded as he began cleaning it, he pulled out a canteen of water and gently poured onto the lump. Then he wrapped Denzel's head with a bandage.

As he worked, Marlene was studying him. She looked at his white hair with such curiousity that he could actually feel her eyes on him. But he still didn't look back. She tilted her head a little as she continued to look at him. She was remembering the three silver haired men who had once been a threat to everyone. "Are you a Sephiroth remnant?"

Dante finally looked at her with a frown. 'Where did that question come from? And what's a Sephiroth?' He thought to himself. But he shook his head as he looked into her brown eyes. "No. I'm not a remnant of anything. But what's a Sephiroth?" He asked before smirking on how wide the girl's eyes grew wide.

"You don't know who Sephiroth is?!" Marlene gasped.

The white haired warrior gave her a raised eyebrow and an impatient look. "Does it look like I would know?" He asked impatiently.

Marlene crinkled her nose but then shrugged. "Sephiroth was a mean man who hated the world because of Shinra. He's the one who called Meteor to destroy the Planet." She told him. Dante frowned again as he looked around at the ruins. He didn't like the sound of that at all. "He did all of this?" He asked nodding to the rubble. Marlene nodded as she sat down on her haunches and wrapped her arms around herself. There was a sad look on her face. "Yeah. He killed a lot of people. Good people. Like Aeris." She told him.

Again, Dante looked at her before looking back at Denzel. "Aeris. The Flower girl from your story?"

Marlene looked wide eyed up at him. "You were watching us?!" She gasped. Dante nodded as he looked back at her. "I haven't seen very many children for awhile now. Where I come from, there's not not many people left." He paused as he went back to tending to Denzel. "So why did you think I was this…..Sephiroth?"

Marlene shook her head. "Not Sephiroth, himself. A Sephiroth clone." She told him before she pointed at his white hair. "Your hair is white. I've never seen white hair before, besides the old people. Sephiroth had silver hair. So did his clones, Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo." She told him. Dante frowned before looking at her. "So this Sephiroth, he was a real bad man?" He received a nod from the little girl. "Where is he? I could teach him a lesson." He told her, with amusement.

"No, you can't. Marlene told him. "He's dead. Cloud killed him. So did Tifa and Papa. Everyone helped kill him." She told him.

Dante couldn't help but smile as at her. "Cloud, huh? Your hero from your game?" He received another nod. He just nodded again before taking off his red trench coat and laid it across Denzel. Then he moved over to a slab of stone and sat down. He pulled out his handguns and began reloading them.

"So what's your name?" Marlene asked finally as she curled up next to Denzel.

Dante didn't look up at her as he put the bullets back into his guns. He was quiet for a minute before he nodded towards her, his eyes still on his guns. "Dante." He said simply.

Marlene tilted her head and silently repeated the name. Then her eyes grew bright and smile at him. "I like it! Dante! Thank you for saving us, Dante!" She said brightly. Dante looked at her, staring for a minute. He had never really been thanked before. Then he nodded to her. "You're welcome." He told her softly. He looked away with a very thoughtful look on his face. "This Cloud, he's a real good man, hm?"

Marlene nodded as she gently brushed Denzel's bangs out of his eyes. "Yes."

"Tell me about him. Him and Sephiroth." Dante requested silently.

Marlene frowned as she tried to think. "Well, I don't know too much about Sephiroth. Only what everyone told me. He was created by Shinra to be a super warrior and to kill anyone who got in their way. But when he found out that he was born just to be used, he started to hate everyone and tried to destroy everything. Cloud, Tifa, Papa gathered Avalanche and they went to stop Sephiroth. They did but he came back months ago to kill everyone by using three of his remnants. They died though. Cloud killed them. But he had help from Rufus Shinra and Reno and Rude."

Dante suddenly looked at her. He had recognized the name Rufus Shinra and he was sure he had heard of Avalanche before. Did Jen tell him that name before? He couldn't recall. He remembered that Vincent Valentine had said that name once before. He had called Rufus a wicked man. But then again, he could have just said that because he was wicked too. A plan, however, was forming in his mind. If this Cloud was a good and powerful fighter, he could probably use his help in hunting down Valentine and killing Chaos. "Where can I find this Cloud? I could use his help with something, if he's willing."

Marlene shook her head as she stared at Denzel. "He's not home right now. He's gone to the Forgotten City to find out who hurt our friend."

The world seemed to stop for Dante. He did recognize that city's name. It had been the city that he fought Valentine at. The men at Bone Village had told him the name. His eyes narrowed as he watched Marlene before tilting his head. "Your friend, the one that was hurt, what's his name?"

"Mr. Vincent." Marlene said with a lazy shrug.

Dante's eyes flashed and he looked back at his guns with a deep frown. It was no doubt Vincent Valentine that she was talking about. So that Cloud, it must have been the man he had fought after leaving the Forgotten City. But if this Cloud was such a good man, why was he befriended to such an evil man, to a wicked demon. "This Vincent," Dante said carefully. "Tell me about him. I heard from some people that he was evil."

Marlene made a rude sound as she looked up at him. "He is not! He's a good man! He might be kind of quiet and kind of creepy but he's really nice! He helped protect me from the Sephiroth remnants!" She told him.

Dante frowned again as he kept his eyes adverted from the girl. He was letting his thoughts run through his mind. Something was wrong. Dante knew that someone was lying to him. Either Jen lied to him about Vincent or this girl didn't know how bad her so called friend was. Dante shook his head, making his decision right then and there. He needed to find out the truth. And there was only one way of doing that.

"Marlene, where can I find Vincent Valentine? I need to speak to him."


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Outside the city, Vincent was training with Tifa, killing monsters, and one after another. They both wanted to be ready for the Demon hunter when he showed up to kill Vincent. They did not want to be caught off guard. Especially Vincent.

"Tifa! Tifa!"

Tifa turned to see Ani and three boys running towards her and Vincent, all-looking very pale and terrified. The pretty barmaid already sensed something wrong, rushed over to them with Vincent right behind her. "Ani? What's wrong?" She asked as she bent down in front of the scared girl. Ani stopped in front of Tifa, gasping for air. Then she pointed back towards the city. "Mon-monster…" She gasped. "Marl-Marlene and Denzel…..They're in trouble! They're in the old Shinra headquarters being attacked by a monster!" She cried.

Tifa's chest tightened before she quickly looked at Vincent. "Vincent!"

"On it!" Vincent said before bolding towards the city. Tifa looked back at the kids. "Go home now!! We'll be home as soon as we can." She told them. Ani swallowed hard as she hugged her doll. "Tifa, will Marlene and Denzel be okay?" She asked, worriedly. Tifa gently touched her head and nodded. "Don't worry. We'll take care of them. Just get home." She told her before running after Vincent.

By the time Vincent and Tifa reached the old ruins, there was no one there. There were no children, or remains, only items that the monster had been carrying before it was killed. Tifa looked around with worry but saw no one. "Oh no! Where are they?!" She cried out before rushing all over. "Marlene! Denzel!" She called.

Vincent just frowned as he looked around. He could see several footsteps in the dust. There were a few children sized ones and there was also a pair of an adult-sized footsteps. Not to mention, there was blood all over the ground. Without a word, he went over and examined the footsteps and the blood. His red eyes narrowed as he touched the drying blood. It was at least an hour old as was the footprints. Vincent turned his eyes over to the cage, frowning even more when he saw how the door of the cage had been torn off.

"Tifa, look."

Tifa turned with a jerk before rushing over to his side. Her eyes looking frantically around before she saw the cage. Her eyes grew wide and she stepped back in surprise. "What in the….what did that?" She asked going over and touching the cage. "The monster?"

Vincent shook his head as he joined her, looking at the torn metal. "No. There's no way a monster could do it like this. The bars would be bent but their not. Someone, a human of some sort did this." He told her. He looked at all of the details of the cage and it made him frown even more. "There's no blood inside the cage, so Marlene was not harmed in any way. Someone must have helped them." He told her.

Tifa bit her lip as she studied the cage with him. "How can you be so sure?" She asked. Vincent looked down at the footsteps. "These footprints. Someone was here but they didn't attack the kids." He stood and went over to a slab of stone. ""Someone was laying here. Someone about the size of Denzel. It could have been Denzel, himself. And someone sat there." He frowned now following the footprints. "Those footprints are not a child's. And when they left, they were carrying something. The small footprints next to them must belong to Marlene." He looked back at Tifa. "They're going back to Edge Town. We should probably go back to the 7th Heaven." He suggested. Tifa nodded and they hurried back as fast as they could.

They ran the entire way, and arrived quickly. Tifa and Vincent hurried into the bar, looking around for anyone. Her eyes immediately caught sight of Marlene at top of the stairs, looking into one of the spare bedrooms before she looked to see Tifa and Vincent. Her eyes brightened and she hurried down the stairs. "Tifa!" She said cheerfully. Tifa sighed with relief before hurrying over to her; her arms thrown around the young girl. "Marlene, thank goodness. Are you okay? Have you been hurt?"

Marlene shook her head. "No. I'm okay." She told her.

Tifa then looked alarmed as she looked right into her eyes. "Where's Denzel? Is he hurt?" She asked. Marlene slowly nodded as she looked back up the stairs. "The monster hit him but he's okay. He only hit his head really hard against the ground." She reassured her. "He's woken up a couple of times but went back to sleep." She told her before she took Tifa's hand and led her upstairs. Vincent followed after them.

Upstairs, Denzel was asleep on the bed, his head still wrapped with a bandage. Tifa hurried over to the bed's side to check on him and Marlene followed. Vincent stepped into the room before freezing. He could sense something wrong. Some kind of presence near by. He also thought of something. "Marlene," He paused, catching the girl's attention. He also caught Tifa's attention and it made him frown when her eyes grew wide. "Who brought you and Denzel home?"

Marlene smiled as she pointed off towards the corner of the room and Dante stepped away from the wall, turning to face Vincent. Vincent stiffened, his hand immediately grabbed his Outsider but then he frowned in confusion when the white haired Demon hunter grabbed his sword and then dropped it onto the ground as he did with his guns.

Dante held up his hands to show that he was now unarmed. "We need to talk."

"A little late for that, isn't it? Dante?" Vincent asked coldly.

Dante saw Tifa stiffen from the corner of his eyes and watched her grab Marlene in a protective way. He just shook his head as he kept his hands leveled with his head. "I guess I deserve the cold treatment but it's important. There's something I need to know before I continue with my mission. And only you can answer my questions."

They all went back downstairs for a drink; Dante sitting on a stool ways away from Vincent. Tifa was washing a glass and eyeing him with distrust while Marlene was sitting right by him, coloring a picture of Dante. The pretty martial artist didn't like it but she didn't say anything. Vincent stood on the other side of the room, watching Dante closely. "Why don't you start? Who hired you and what are you doing here?"

Dante glanced at the Ex-Turk when he spoke but then shrugged. He leaned against the counter, one elbow propping himself up. "All right. A woman named Jen hired me. That sound familiar?" he received a no. "Well she came to my world to recruit me to kill a wicked demon called Chaos. And you." Dante explained. "She told me that you murdered a woman, her mother. Along with other people."

Tifa shook her head. "That's crazy. Vincent would never murder anyone." She told him. "And anyone that he killed were wicked people trying to harm innocent people. Or they attacked us first. They tried to kill us because they were ordered by Shinra Inc. Vincent is not an evil man and he is not a demon." She told him sternly.

Vincent and Dante glanced at her before looking into each other's eyes. "I'm not entirely a demon." answered the mystical man. "I was experimented on by a wicked scientist. He placed these demons inside me." He told the demon hunter. Dante frowned as he folded his arms, now straightening before nodding to him. "All right. I'll buy that. So who's Jen and what's she got on you if you didn't kill her mother?"

Vincent shook his head as he stared Dante right in the eye. "I don't know any Jen. And I didn't kill any woman. Especially a mother……" His eyes then widened as if something hit him. "…..unless……"

Dante rose an eyebrow as he watched the Ex-Turk carefully. "I suppose you're thinking of someone now, huh?" He asked suspiciously. Even Tifa seemed to think the same thing as Vincent. "Wait, you can't mean Lucrecia. But you didn't kill her, Vincent! She died in childbirth! Besides, she's alive in spirit, not body."

Dante glanced between the two before shaking his head. "Look, someone is lying to me and I do not like being lied to. It's either you're lying or Jen is. I want to know which one it is. Because whoever it is, it's really pissing me off." He said darkly. "I came here with the belief that you're an evil demon and a wicked man and then I actually meet your pals and they say that you're not bad. And then I meet this girl," He paused motioning to Marlene. "And now she tells me that you're not bad! I want the truth and I want it now. Do you know who Jen is and who is it you killed?"

Vincent was quiet for a minute as he tried to think before he shook his head. "No. I don't know Jen. And if it was Lucrecia that I killed, I'll tell you now, I did not kill her. I just didn't protect her like I should have." He tried to reassure Dante. Tifa nodded. "Yeah. Besides, Lucrecia didn't have a daughter. She had a son. His name had been Sephiroth."

Dante's eyes lit up with surprise as he looked at her then at Vincent. "Sephiroth?" He asked in surprise before glancing at Marlene, who gave him an innocent smile. Then he frowned and looked at Vincent. "Tell me everything. Everything about that man." He said. Tifa and Vincent glanced at one another before nodding and began to explain.

After an hour of explaining the entire story about Sephiroth and about how they defeated him. They told him all about how Sephiroth was born and then how he went insane when he found out that he was an experiment. The story went onto how he destroyed hundreds of lives, which turned into millions because of Meteor. They even explained how the fight started with Shinra Inc then grew into something more.

And when they got to explaining about Jenova, Dante grew very angry. "Jen…..Jenova. Son of a bitch." He growled before glaring at Vincent. "You're not lying to me, are you?"

Tifa shook her head as she leaned against the counter. "We're not lying. This Jen must believe that she's Jenova or something but I can promise you, she's not. We killed Jenova. I don't know why they're using you, Dante, but you almost killed Vincent for no reason. Not without knowing the real reason." She told him.

Dante let out a low growl before standing up. His right hand running through his white locks. "No one, and I mean no one uses me and gets away with it. I'm going to find Jen and find out what the hell is going on." He then gave Tifa and Vincent a dark look. "And if you're lying to me, I'll make you regret that you lied to me."

"Dante, please don't talk to Tifa and Vincent like that." Marlene said, sounding a little upset. "They're not lying."

The white haired demon hunter just glanced at her before feeling a little more calmer. He reached over and patted her on the head. "Sorry, kiddo. I'm just angry." He told her. Tifa couldn't help but smile at his reaction. She tilted her head to the side. She was definitely seeing something other than coldness and brutality from Dante. Vincent, however, held up a hand. "Before you take off, we told you our story. So what's yours?" He asked in a very serious way.

Dante stood there for a minute before shrugging. "Fair enough. I guess you do have a right to know a little about me. What do you want to know?"

"Who are you? And what are you?" Vincent asked.

Dante shrugged as he sat back down on the stool. "Well, like I said before. I'm Dante, a demon hunter. I run my own business in hunting demons down and killing them. The Devil May Cry." He told them. "I hunt demons and I make sure they stay in hell where they belong."

Tifa folded her arms and shifted her weight. "But, aren't you a demon?"

Dante gave a half shrug, half nod. "Half demon. I'm the son of a demon warrior, Sparda. My mother was human. I used to have a twin brother, Vergil. But he's dead." He said simply.

Tifa frowned. "Oh! I'm sorry."

"Don't be." chuckled Dante in a dark way. "I'm the one who killed him." He received an alarmed look from Tifa. "Vergil was using his own demon powers for selfish reasons. He wasn't doing the world any good and it gave me no choice. So I took him out. It had to be done. Don't pity neither of us. We never liked getting pity from anyone."

Vincent lowered his head a little but still kept his ruby eyes on Dante. "So you hunt demons for the good use?" He asked. Dante nodded as he looked back at him. "Yes. I do. Excuse me for trying to kill you before but I've never really met a good demon before, other than myself." He then snorted. "And I'm not a good demon either."

Marlene looked up and made a sound of protest. "Yes you are! You saved me and Denzel!" She complained.

Dante couldn't stop the smile from showing itself before he patted her on the head again. "Whatever you say, kid." He then looked back at Tifa and Vincent. "I've caused a lot of trouble for you but I'm not going to say sorry. I just have a job to do." He told them.

Tifa stiffened as she looked at him with alarm. "You're not still going to….." She was saying.

Dante shook his head as he looked back at her. "No. Not right now. Not until I find out what's going on. So I'll leave you alone for now, Valentine. But if I do find out you were lying, I will be back to finish my job." He warned him. "For now, I'm going to hunt down Jen and find out what her deal is. She's got a lot of explaining to do." He said going over to the table with his weapons and started putting them back on.

Marlene hurried over to him and threw her arms around his waist, being careful not to touch his sword. Dante only glanced around and down at her with surprise. "I'll miss you, Dante! Please come back okay." The girl said into his coat. Dante's face softened and he put an arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry, kid. I'll be okay. We'll probably see each other again." He told her.

"Promise?" Marlene asked looking up at him.

Dante smirked at her before nodding. "Promise." He then turned his eyes over to Vincent, who finally moved closer. "No hard feelings, right?" He asked, holding out a hand towards the Ex-Turk.

Vincent stared at his hand for a minute before he lifted his golden claws up and took Dante's offered hand. "No hard feelings." He said quietly. Dante nodded back before he pulled away from Marlene and headed towards the door.

Before he got there, the door opened, revealing Cloud and the others. Upon seeing Dante, they all froze and stiffened as if to pull their weapons. Even Dante tensed when he saw them going for them. "Dante." Cloud said coldly.

"Cloud Strife." Dante said in more of a greeting.

The blonde moved forward a step, starting to pull one of his swords before noticing Tifa, Vincent and Marlene in the room, and they were safe. "Tifa? Vincent?" He asked, his hand tightening on the handle of his sword. Vincent frowned as he looked between the two stiffened swordsmen before looking back at Cloud. "Cloud, it's all right. Let him go."

Cloud just frowned before he slowly nodded and he stepped out of the way. Dante glanced over his shoulder at Vincent, who nodded for him to keep on going. With a shrug, he relaxed and walked right towards the door, pausing as he looked right back at Cloud. "By the way, good job killing Sephiroth." He remarked before he left.

Cloud frowned as he watched the white haired demon hunter left the bar before looking at the others. "Why was he here?" He asked suspiciously. Tifa shook her head as she made her way around the counter. "Don't worry, Cloud. He wasn't here to cause trouble for Vincent. He saved Denzel and Marlene's life from a monster today and brought them back here. We just had a long talk with him and everything's okay now." She told him. Cloud glanced at Vincent, who slowly nodded. "He was just here to talk. He told us everything we need to know and we told him what he needed to know and what he plans to do."

The four walked over and took seats at barstools; Nanaki actually laying on the floor. "So, what is his plan?" He asked his ears shifting a little.

Vincent shook his head as he silently went to the wall and leaned against it. "He's not going to kill me right now. Not until he finds out what Jen has against me and why she hired him to kill me. Marlene, there, managed to convince him that I'm a good person and not a wicked demon. Though, I'm not sure about that." He received scowls from his friends but he ignored them. "Anyway, he's going off to see if he can find Jen."

Cloud frowned as he looked at Marlene. "He saved Denzel and Marlene? Why?"

Marlene looked up when he spoke her name before she smiled. "He saved us from a monster when it attacked us in the Shinra Headquarters."

"What?!" Barret gasped and hurried over to her. "Marlene! You're not hurt, are you?"

Marlene shook her head as she let him wrap his arms around her and lift her up so he could take a look at her for any wounds. "No. I'm okay. Dante stopped the monster from hurting me. But Denzel got hit by it." She saw an alarmed look on Cloud's face and that made her wave a hand at him in a reassuring way. "He's okay. Dante said that he was only going to have a con…concus…" She paused trying to think of the word. "Uh….."

"A concussion." Vincent helped her.

Marlene looked at him with a scowl but then she nodded. "Yeah. That. But he said that he was going to live." She told him.

Tifa nodded in agreement as she went around the counter and started to prepare drinks for the guys. "I checked on Denzel while we were upstairs. Denzel will be fine. I really don't think Dante would have harmed the children at all. He really doesn't seem the type that would hurt them." She said. Vincent nodded in agreement. "I have to agree. He would have harmed Marlene and Denzel long ago when he found out who they were and what their connection had been with me and you." He told the blonde.

Cloud slowly nodded as he looked to both of his friends. "Okay. So what's his story?"

Tifa shrugged as she poured him a drink then handed it to him. "He's a half a demon. His father was a demon warrior and his mother was human. He hunts demons for the good of mankind, protects people much like we do. Only from monsters." She then winced as she looked at Vincent. "Not you though, Vince."

"It's all right, Tifa." Vincent said quietly before looking at Cloud. "Dante's not really a threat to us, not unless he fights us again. He's a powerful young man but he's not bad." He told him. Cid then frowned as he rubbed his chin with his knuckles. "Hey, did any one of you see that amulet around his neck?"

Everyone looked at one another before shaking their heads. "No. What amulet?" Tifa asked. Vincent tilted his head a little before he nodded. "There was an amulet around his neck, now that I think about it. It had three jeweled stones in it."

"Yep. I saw 'em too. There were two moon shaped ones and a round orb between them. It was a white orb with a greenish glow." Cid remarked.

That made all the others look very alarmed hearing that. Tifa gasped and covered her mouth while the others looked at one another. "You don't think……you don't think he has the White Materia, do you?" She asked with worry. Cloud swore a little as he lowered his glass of drink. "Damn it. I knew something was wrong when we went to the Forgotten City. I had a feeling that something was missing there. I should have known it was the Holy Materia!" He said starting towards the door. "I've got to get it back!"

"Cloud, stop." Vincent said quietly.

Cloud turned and looked at him with a frown. "Vincent, you know what the White Materia can do. If Dante was to use it….."

Vincent shook his head as he met the blonde's crystal blue eyes with his ruby red ones. "And exactly how is he going to use it, Cloud? He's a half demon hunter from another world and dimension. He has no idea what the White Materia is or what it does. Not to mention, he's not an Ancient." He shook his head again. "Only Aeris could have used it."

Everyone slowly nodded as they agreed with him. They knew he had a point. So they would leave the matter alone for now. But when and if Dante returned, they would tell him to return it.


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey, everyone. Thanks for the reviews and for being patient with me. I appreciate it. In this chapter you're going to find out who Jen is and who her mother was, or shall I say, is. R and R, please.**

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**Chapter Six**

It was very late in the evening by the time Dante arrived at the Forgotten City. He had traveled the entire day, going straight back to the place where he first arrived. He figured that Jen might still be in the city, waiting for his return and for his report of him killing Valentine. It was too bad that he was going to sorely disappoint her.

When he arrived, he immediately tensed up, as if waiting for a fight to break out. The city seemed so much darker and forbidding than the last time he was there. He could sense something in the air that was clearly not good. And he did not like it at all. There just was something that didn't seem right. Something had changed here and he wasn't exactly sure what it was. Dante frowned before he walked down the pearl colored path, heading back to the lake. His eyes carefully looking around as he walked up to the seashell house by the water. He couldn't shake the feeling that something had dreadfully gone wrong. And he did not like it at all.

"Hmm." He muttered to him self. Then he went into the house, to see if Jen was probably there. "Jen? You here?" He called. His icy blue eyes carefully looking around as he moved. But as soon as he reached the top of the spiraling house, he realized something. There was an unusual path that led straight down right through the middle of the house. Some kind of underground pathway.

"Hmm. That wasn't there before." Dante said to himself before starting to follow the path.

The path he was walking on was a strange, blue and transparent one. It sparkled like ice or crystals. And it even spiraled around like large stairs. Dante shook his head as he continued to follow the path before pausing as soon as he entered some kind of large underground chamber. He couldn't help but marvel at the size of the chamber. It was enormous. At the bottom of the path, there was some kind of pavilions.  
With a slight hesitation, Dante made his way down the path, soon reaching the bottom. He immediately saw some kind of alter sitting in the middle of an underground lake. Platforms stood all around it and stranger as it was, there was a woman kneeling on the altar. A beautiful woman in pink.

Dante frowned he saw her and hesitated as he went over to the first platform. He watched her for a moment, taking in her appearance. She looked just like the woman he saw earlier that had vanished a day ago when he first saw her. With a deeper frown, he climbed onto the platforms and walked over each on to get to the altar platform, where the woman was kneeling. He noted that her eyes were closed and her hands were folded together, as if she was praying for something.

"Aeris?" Dante found himself asking.

The woman's eyes opened, revealing her emerald green ones and then she smiled in a sweet way when she saw him. She was truly an angelic looking creature. Dante slowly drew back as those beautiful eyes took his breath away. But there was something wrong there. Wasn't Aeris the flower girl dead?

"_Dante! Get away from her!"_ He heard a sudden shout from all around him.

Dante jumped into an alert stance, his hand on his sword and his eyes searched for whoever spoke to him. But the trap was sprung.

Suddenly, hot pink beams shot out of the ground, wrapping around Dante's wrists and ankles before he could even move. The beams felt solid and burned against his skin as it lift him up into the air. The beams around his wrists lift higher so he was stretched out in the air and the ankle beams pulled down. Soon he wasn't able to move at all. But that didn't stop the demon hunter from struggling. He tried to drawl out his demonic power to break loose but for some reason, his power was having trouble to breaking these bonds.

"What the hell?!" Dante exclaimed still trying to pull his hands free. "What the hell is going on here?!" His eyes then looked down as he saw movement from below him and they widened. The image of Aeris melted off the woman and revealed herself as Jen. "Jen?!"

Jen glared up at him as she climbed to her feet and placed her tight fist on her slender waist. There was something in her hand but Dante couldn't see what it was. "You foolish demon." She hissed angrily. "I thought you I told you to kill Vincent Valentine! And when you get the change, you let him live!" She screamed up at him. Dante frowned at her, still more confused as hell. "Jen! What the hell is going on here?! I demand an explanation right now!" He snapped right back. As soon as the harsh words were out of his mouth, a jolt of hot lightning shot through the beams and ran through his body, making the white haired demon hunter cry out in pain.

"SILENCE!" Jen shouted at him. "Do not demand me of anything, Dante! When I give you an order, you do it! I wanted Vincent Valentine dead!" She screamed in rage at him.

Dante shrugged of the pain and glared at her. "Why?" He asked coldly. "He did nothing wrong. He did not kill anyone who didn't deserve to die. A little girl told me that. A girl named Marlene. So why do you want him dead?"

Jen narrowed her eyes at him before she smirked coolly at him. "You want to know the real reason why? He did kill someone! He killed my mother! He killed Jenova!" She said before a dark cloud of spoke surrounded her. Slowly her own imaged melted and she became a woman of cold beauty. She had a pale complexion and her hair grew long and silver colored to her waist. Her eyes were no longer an emerald green color but a poisonous green. They glowed with a power that even made Dante shudder. She still wore the same black leather outfit as he had first seen her in. But still, it stunned the hunter.

Dante's eyes grew wide with confusion and surprise before they narrowed at her. He recognized the name Jenova, but what about her? "What are you?" He growled, his hands becoming fists. "A demon of some sort?"

The woman just smiled coldly at him as she flipped her silver bangs out of her eerie green eyes and then she shook a thin finger at him. "Not even close, Demon Hunter. I am a Goddess compared to you. I am a Jenova remnant, a remainder of Jenova. You may continue to call me Jen." She told him.

Dante slowly shook his head. "Why do you want Valentine dead? He's done nothing to you."

Jen shook her head. "Wrong. He helped kill my mother and he will pay." She then shrugged trying to look very innocent. "Not to mention he is extremely powerful. He's stronger than he actually showed you, Dante. He was holding his true power back from you when you fought him. All because of his friends, the Avalanche. Before he met them, he was a cold-blooded being and would have killed anyone if they annoyed him. But meeting them had softened his heart." She then twirled one of her silver strands with her finger. "However, if he was to let his true power unleash itself, it would be impossible to kill him." Jen's eyes grew dark with hate as she looked up at Dante. "Of course, you were supposed to kill him. You're strong enough to do it. But you failed!" She snapped.

Dante couldn't help but smirk coldly right back at her. "How ironic. It looks like I made a wise decision then in not killing Valentine then." He told her in a very cool tone.

Jen narrowed her eyes at him as she held up her hand. "No, Dante. You made a foolish decision." She then smiled as she looked at what was in her hand. ""Of course, there is only one thing you managed to do right. You brought me the White Materia."

"The White what?" Dante asked now frowning, his eyes then looked at the large black orb in her hand. His breath immediately caught in his throat as he looked upon it. He sensed a powerful essence within that orb. A power that he knew that should not be in Jen's hands.

Jen reached up towards him and held out her hand. She smiled bitterly at him, her eyes never leaving his just as Dante's amulet jerked right off his neck and shot into her hand. "This is the White Materia."

"Hey! Give me that back! That's mine!" Dante yelled at her with rage.

Jen continued to smile as she pulled out the White Materia and wrapped the amulet around her wrist. "Yes." She cooed. "And now it's mine. " She said in a teasing way. She then held both White and Black Materia up with both hands.  
Dante felt a sudden feeling of dread as he watched her bring the Materia closer to one another. He knew that Jen should not be touching neither one of the orbs.  
Jen continued to smirk at him as she looked directly into his eyes. "Now, I shall create the ultimate power. Holy and Meteor shall be one."

She then pressed the orbs together.

At first nothing happened. But then the two orbs started to glow with light and dark auras, which grew brighter. Then dark smoke started to curl around them. The orbs slowly started to drift into one another, becoming one. A gray orb with white and black swirls whirling around inside it. Light green and dark purple sparks began to caress the orb's surface, swirling around like static. A terrible feeling filled the air around Dante, making goosebumps rise on his skin. He felt a very dark feeling coming from the orb. He thought for a moment that he could hear the beginnings of a thunderstorm from above the chamber.

"Thank you, Dante, for helping me." Jen said coolly as she slid the orb into the empty slot on his amulet. She then looked up at him smiling. "Now I will give you a choice. Join me as my ally and help me destroy those pathetic fools of Avalanche or die." She said as the beams of hot pink brought him closer to her. She gently touched his chest with her slender hand, running a finger over his heart. "You are a powerful and handsome fighter, Dante. There's no need for us to be enemies. I will be queen of this Planet as soon as I'm done killing Avalanche. But as it is, a queen needs a king. So, what is your decision?"

Dante glared at her before he leaned closer, his eyes narrowing at her. "When I get loose, Jen, I'm going to kill you slowly and painfully. You will not touch those people as long as I live." He growled right into her face.

Jen's face grew dark as continued to look into his eyes before she pulled her hand away, stepping back. She then smiled coldly as she reached down and grabbed one of her knives in her leg belt. "Do you know what the best part about this new materia, Dante?" She asked as she gently tapped the orb with her knife. A black trail of smoke formed around the silver blade, as if painting it with its touch. "It's the combination of power that both Materia possess. It gives me the power to hurt even you." And with that, she thrust the blade right in Dante's side.

And for once in his life, he felt serious pain.

"Argh!" The demon hunter could not stop himself from crying out. It was if the blade was burning hot and had just burned his insides. He immediately felt as if poison was slipping into his blood stream and his precious life poured out.

Jen laughed violently as she stabbed the dagger deeper into his side, twisting it a little. "How ironic. The blade is even poisoned with the dark power." She told him before yanking it out again just as the beams released him.  
Dante dropped to the ground, not being able to catch himself. He landed hard onto his hands and knees, gasping in pain. His eyes tightly closed as he clapped a hand over the wound to stop the bleeding. He didn't have his amulet so he couldn't start healing immediately like he used to. "You want to fight me, Dante," Jen said still giggling evilly. "Here's your chance to stop me before I go off and slaughter your new friends." Dante shuddered in pain as he slowly lift his head and glared at her through his white strands, his teeth clenched tight. "I'm giving you a chance to fight and kill me." Jen said moving back, dagger still in hand.

The demon hunter, still breathing hard, slowly got to his feet and grabbed the handle of Alastor. He did his best to standing up tall, trying to block out the pain his side. He could feel his wound bleeding heavily and he knew how serious it was. But he had had worst before. He remembered the first time he got Alastor. The sword had stabbed him completely through the chest, pinning him to the ground and if not for his demonic powers, it would have killed him.

"Fight me, Dante, and protect Avalanche." Jen said coldly.

Dante gritted his teeth before yanking the sword out of its sheath and held it with one hand. However, because of his wounds and the poison now in his bloodstream, he couldn't lift it with just one hand. He needed both. So he grabbed the handle with both hands, trying to ignore his pain. "You made a big mistake, Jen." He hissed icily.

Jen just smiled at him. "So did you." And she moved quickly forward, dagger flashing.

Dante made a swing at her with Alastor but she moved way too fast for him. The wench's movements were very surprisingly too fast for Dante to keep up. And the wound in his side wasn't helping at all. Jen smirked coldly as she ducked under the sword and slashed the front of his chest. The blade didn't cut him deeply, merely scratched him but it still told him that he was in deep trouble. Dante swung again and missed again. The wounds were getting to him. Jen moved again, ducking low to the ground as the demon hunter's sword passed right above her head. She never stopped smiling as she kicked out and swept his feet out from under him. Dante hit the ground harder, the sword flying a few feet away from him. His breath was knocked out from his lungs and he didn't have the strength to get up again.

"Pity." The cold Jenova remnant said as she stood over him. "I was hoping you would actually be a challenge for me. I needed a warm up for Valentine." She then reached down and picked up his sword, looking at in admiration. "But it looks like you were no match for me, Dante." She said before her face turned nasty. She rose the sword high above him and brought it down hard right into his shoulder.

Dante could not stop himself from grunting in pain, his eyes tightly shutting as he felt the electrifying blade enter his flesh. He heard the blade hit the stone floor under him, giving him the information that it just went clean through him.

Jen stepped back again before smiling coldly at him. She then reached down and grabbed his jacket, yanking him up. The sword slowly slid through his shoulder until his body touched the hilt. Dante winced in pain and even hissed as it hurt even more. He looked right up into Jen's eyes, though weak from blood loss. Jen just gave him a pitiful smile before she pulled the sword out the ground, still leaving it in him. "Give my regards to Aeris in the Promised Land." She told him before she turned sharply and threw him right up into the air with such power.

Dante flew quickly through the air, crashing through the roof and into the shell house's own roof until he was once again inside. He saw a full moon as he started to fall again, landing in the small lake with a loud and painful splash. He floated there for a moment before sinking into the dark depths of the water.

Jen soon flew through the hole that Dante had created, hovering above the sky for a brief minute before landing on a branch. She never stopped smiling coldly. Her poisonous eyes glittered with wicked delight. "Goodbye, foolish demon. May you enjoy your watery grave, beside the wretched Ancient." And then she turned and ran into the dark night, heading towards Midgar. It was time to kill a demonic Ex-Turk and his pals.

Below the surface of the water, Dante slowly sank into the cold water, motionless as ever. His eyes were slightly open and he was still alive but he could not find the strength to move. He was in too much pain and the poison inside his body seemed to paralyze him. Normally, he could hold his breath for a long time under water. But eventually he would lose all that air and drown. It was no use trying to fight it now. The sword, Alastor was so heavy against him and it was weighing him down and his body seemed to be frozen. He was going to die and there was nothing he could do about it.

So he closed his eyes, praying to the memory of his father and mother that Vincent Valentine would be strong enough to protect his friends from that bitch, Jen. For he couldn't.

As he sank into the dark water, he suddenly felt as if something was touching him. Something was wrapping around him, stopping him from sinking. It didn't feel completely solid but it was something. Something, some kind of energy force wrapped around his body and he slowly began to rise again. Dante continued to rise with the help of whatever owned this energy force before breaking surface. He gasped for air and expected to get a mouthful of water again as he would sink but something was keeping him from doing so. He frowned weakly as he felt something carry him to shore. He felt his back touch the sandy beach of the lake and he laid there, eyes partly closed. He still felt his wounds bleeding and knew that it needed to be taken care of immediately. But either way, by drowning or bleeding to death, he was going to die.

He closed his eyes to welcome the swift wings of death. "I have failed….." He muttered before he turned his head, ready to die. But death did not come on its swift, black wings to claim his life. It did not come to pull him into the gates of Hell or to bargain for his life and for revenge.

Instead, a wet slobbery tongue ran across his cheek.

Dante pulled a face as his eyes fluttered opened and he looked up at what had just liked him. He expected to see a monster there, licking its chops and readying itself for a meal but instead, he saw a large gray wolf. It was standing above him, looking into his icy blue eyes with gentle sapphire blue ones. Dante stared up at it with heavy lidded eyes then he closed them to ignore the wolf. But then he felt Alastor slowly being removed from his shoulder, and it made him gasp in pain as the sharp blade was removed. He tried to swat at whoever was pulling it.

"Easy, easy. I'm just trying to help." He heard a strong and kind voice.

Dante opened his eyes again, shuddering in pain once Alastor had been removed from his shoulder and he saw a man slowly bend down next to him. And the wolf was no where to be seen.

The man was a handsome fellow with unbelievable messy black hair, which slightly spiked up in the back. His eyes were sapphire blue, the same color as the wolf's had been. He was wearing dark blue clothing; dark colored pants with suspenders and a turtleneck, sleeveless shirt. He was powerfully built and he looked liked a soldier of some kind. He looked as if he had been in plenty of fights in his life, yet he was kind and friendly. There was a gentle smile on his roguish face, but concern in his soft eyes.

"Don't die on me, Dante." The man spoke. "Just hold on a while longer. It's not your time yet."

Dante just frowned at him weakly, blinking several times with confusion. And then his face darkened. "You…didn't just lick me, did you?" he growled, threatingly.

The man smiled before he slid his hands under Dante's armpits and dragged him out of the water, trying to be careful but failing to hurt him. Dante hissed in pain as he felt his wounds still bleeding but it didn't hurt as much as before. "Nah, I didn't lick you. That was Fenrir, the wolf." He told him.

Dante winced again as he was set down by this man and got an apology. The demon hunter closed his eyes, to try and hold in the pain before opening his eyes again when the man put his hand on his shoulder. "Man, looks like that Jenova remnant got you good. You're a mess. She's definitely trouble, I'll tell you that. You're going to need that amulet of yours back to defeat her." He told him.

"Who are you?" The demon hunter asked, feeling as if he was starting to fade.

The man shook his head as he gave Dante a soft look as if he was a brother who was trying to comfort him. "I'm a friend, Dante. And I'm here to help you. As long as you'll let me." His eyes looked at the gashes in his side and shoulder. "We're going to need to heal those immediately, and get rid of that poison she gave you. You'll die if we don't." He then turned on his heels and looked at someone behind him. "What do you think, Sugar? You think you can heal that?"

For a moment, Dante thought he was finally dead because an angel of some sort walked up and joined his side. She was a beautiful woman being herself and not Jen pretending to be her. She was more angelic than the illusion Jen fooled him with. And her emerald green eyes were so much softer than Jen's illusion's had been.

"Aeris……?"


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews. It's about to get real good. There's going to be a real big battle scene coming up in this next chapter. Anyway, read and review.**

**Chapter Seven**

The storm was a bad one, one of the worst ones that they had ever seen break out. They hadn't seen one this bad before. It had been bad when Meteor had started falling and then when Sephiroth tried poisoning all of Midgar with the black rain but this, it was something different. The wind was blowing at nearly 150 mph, maybe more. Whatever wasn't really that heavy just got blown across the street or against houses. The rain had started out as a drizzle and then became a pounding waterfall, flooding the streets. The black clouds had rolled in from the North, full of lightning and thunder. The heavy raindrops fell like someone had broke a dam. It was a bad, bad storm.

The entire group of Avalanche were in the 7th Heaven, talking about what they had learned from Dante or just staring out at the raging storm.

Tifa was sitting next to the window, her eyes full of worry. Marlene and Denzel were in their night clothes, also staring out at the scary storm. Both looking a little worried. Marlene had told Denzel what happened when he woke up and who had saved his life. Denzel was a little disappointed that he didn't get to see this Dante savagely kill the monster that nearly killed him.

"It looks real bad out there." Tifa stated the obvious.

Cloud looked up from Barret and shook his head. "It's okay, Tifa. It'll blow over. It's just a storm." He told her.

Tifa looked over her shoulder at him but then looked back out the window. "No, Cloud." It's not the storm that has me worried." She slowly shook her head. "It's just, Dante is out there in that storm. I just hope he's okay."

Marlene looked up at her, looking just as worried but then took her hand. "Dante will be okay, Tifa. I'm sure of it." She told her. Tifa smiled at her then gently brushed her bangs out of her soft brown eyes.

Vincent also was staring out at the storm. He didn't like it more than Tifa did. Normally, he wouldn't really worry too much about someone who tried to kill him. But he knew that Dante still had a little bit of information for him and he was the only connection to this strange woman, Jen. Who could have known that he failed to protect Lucrecia other than himself, Hojo and Gast? No one outside of Avalanche even knew about her. Not even Rufus Shinra. They hadn't even told him about some of the things they did on their journey to stopping Sephiroth two years ago. There must have been something he missed. Something or someone. And who was this Jen? What connection did she have with Lucrecia, anyway? Could it have been someone that had been infected by Jenova? Vincent wasn't sure what to think of this whole ordeal. He hated it when he got confused like he was feeling. He was tempted to go to Lucrecia's cave and see if she was there, though every time he did go, she wouldn't be. She had vanished around the same time Sephiroth did when Cloud killed him. Vincent had not seen her ever again after that. So it was possible that she finally passed on and went to join everyone in the Lifestream.

"Man, it is bad out there!" Barret's gruff voice broke into his thoughts. "Look at that!"

Vincent blinked and watched a large trashcan rolling across the street. He frowned as he watched it then slowly shook his head. "Something's not right." He suddenly spoke.

Everyone looked at him with surprise and saw how dark his eyes had gotten. Tifa gently set Marlene to the side and stood up. "Vincent? What's wrong?" She asked. Vincent tilted his head to look at her before he dropped his arms to his sides. "This storm is the worst storm we've had in ages." He told her and to everyone. "I'm going to go find Dante. He shouldn't be out there in that weather."

Cloud frowned, as did the others before he stood and moved closer. "Something's wrong, isn't it? I can feel it too." He looked around. "I think…..I think something might've happened to Dante. I'm going to go with you, Vincent. I want some more answers just like you do." He told him. Vincent just lazily shrugged as he turned towards the door. "Do as you want." He said quietly before starting towards it. Barret nodded as he also stood. "Yeah, I think I'll come too. Dante saved Marlene's life and I owe him a thanks." He grunted.  
Cid snorted from where he stood and waved a hand at them. "Ya'll have fun then. 'Cause anyone that stupid to be out in that storm, oughta be craz….." He was saying.

Suddenly, in the distance, they all heard an explosion of some kind that rocked the entire city of Edge. Everyone jumped and looked to the large windows of the bar to see a fiery ball of smoke do a mushroom cloud right up into the sky onto to quickly dissipate because of the heavy rainfall. "What the friggen hell?!" Cid exclaimed as he stood straight. The others didn't say anything as they looked on with shock. They weren't sure if the storm had caused that explosion or if something else did. But they knew that it needed to be taken care of.

Just then there was a loud beeping noise and everyone looked up at the shelf where Cait Sith usually slept. The cat was stretching and yawning before it hopped down from its shelf. "Hey, everyone!" It said cheerfully. "Did ya see that explosion?"

"No, Cait Sith, we missed it." Nanaki said with sarcasm.

Of course, Cait wasn't too smart when it came with sarcasm. He just nodded and hopped over onto the table next to Marlene and Denzel. "Over there! See that fiery ball of….." It then hit him when he saw the others roll their eyes. With a scowl, he glared at Nanaki. "Oh, ha ha ha. Very funny." He then shook his head. "Got a message for you. It's from Reeve. He said something's really big in Edge's city square. It just destroyed the Meteor Monument. You might want to hurry over there. Rufus and the Turks are trying to hold it off but they're having a real hard time."

Everyone frowned in surprise but Cloud was the first to jump to action of course. "Tifa, you should stay here to watch the kids. We'll check this out." He told her.

Tifa just nodded as she put an arm around a startled Marlene. "We'll be fine, Cloud. You all just be careful." She told him. Cloud nodded as he looked around at the others then opened his mouth to tell them what they should do.

But before the words could even leave his mouth, something crashed right into the window, making all drop down to the ground and cover their heads from the glass and debris. Tifa and Yuffie both screaming as well as the kids. And then something knocked Tifa away from Marlene and wrapped around the girl. Marlene gasped as she looked down at what it was before screaming when it suddenly yanked back out the large hole in the building with her trapped in it.

Everyone had heard Marlene and saw what happened. They all stood up abruptly and looked after the large tentacle thing that had just took Marlene away.

"MARLENE!!" Barret yelled before he was already running out the hole in the wall.

Everyone else quickly followed after him while Tifa pointed at Denzel. "Denzel, stay here!" She told him before running after her friends. Denzel just watched them with fear before he shook his head. He was not going to let some monster hurt his best friend. So he followed.

The entire group of Avalanche ran through the flooded streets, all soaking wet but not seeming to care about it. They wanted to find out where Marlene had been taken and save her. They knew they needed to find her before whatever took her did something to her that they didn't want to know about. Like kill or eat her. They came up to the City Square quickly and found that Rufus Shinra and the Turks were indeed fighting something very big and slimy look. Though, most of its body was still hiding underground. At least ten large tentacles were wavering in the air, sticking out of the ground. They had arrived just in time to watch Reno get knocked off his feet by one of the tentacles and crash heavily on the ground.

"Shinra!" Cloud called to him.

Rufus was slamming another slug into his shotgun when he heard his rival. He turned sharply to see the group of friends running up and relief seemed to settling in his features. "Cloud! It's about time you showed up!" He yelled at them. "We've been needing back up for about ten minutes now!"

Cloud rushed over to Rufus and shoved him to the side as a tentacle tried to hit him. Immediately the blonde had one of his swords out and slashed at the tentacle to keep it away. The long slimy piece of meat drew back. "What happened?!" Cloud asked, glancing at Rufus.

Rufus shook his head as he aimed his shotgun at another tentacle. "I don't know! It just happened so fast! One minute, we were at Reeve's place, talking about the construction plans and the next we heard a loud rumbling right under our feet! Next thing we knew, all these tentacles just tore into Reeve's apartment from the ground! We were lucky it didn't kill us!" He yelled at him. "But whatever it is, it's right under us and it is big!"

Avalanche all nodded as they immediately got into fighting positions. Barret rushed over and grabbed Rufus's shoulder. "Have you seen Marlene?!" He yelled. Rufus frowned but shook his head. Tseng pointed upward. "She's up there somewhere! We saw that tentacle fly off and then come back with someone screaming!"

Barret swore and began to look for her in anguish. "Marlene! Marlene, where are you?!" He cried, large fat tears in his eyes.

"PAPA!"

Every head turned sharply and they looked at up at a skeleton of slowly rising building. It was almost too hard to see them but they could see a figure high above their heads. It was a woman holding Marlene tightly by the arm. It only stunned them even more when they noticed that it was someone who looked just like Aeris; only she wore all black.

"It can't be!" Tifa gasped covering her mouth.

Cloud and Barret both stepped forward with alarm and looked like they were going to rush forward to help Marlene. But the woman reacted by pushing to the edge of the building, who was struggling to get back. It was no doubt that the girl was crying fear.

"Careful, Avalanche! You wouldn't want this pretty little child to have a nasty fall, now would you?!" The woman called down to them. So no one moved.

Tifa dropped her hands, shivering in fear and cold. "Who are you?! Please don't hurt Marlene! Just let her go!" She called.

The woman smiled coldly down at them as she pushed a wet strand of brown hair out of her emerald green eyes. "No, I don't think I will. You see, she's a child who decided to tell my demon hunter that my enemy was not evil and now I'm going to punish her for ruining my plans by opening her foolish mouth!" She said coldly.

Vincent gritted his teeth as he looked up at her. "You're Jen?!" he yelled up at her.

The woman, Jen, no doubt, smiled coldly before a dark aura slowly swirled around her and her image of Aeris melted away, revealing her true self. "I am! I am Jen, remnant of Jenova! And you will die Vincent Valentine, as will you all!"

The news alarmed everyone hearing on who and what she was. They had not expected that there was another remnant lying around. Cloud moved forward another step, trying to throw his blonde bangs out of his eyes. "You're Jen?! The one that hired Dante?!"

"The very one!" Jen told them.

Vincent narrowed his eyes as he looked around. He certainly didn't see a flash of red or even see Dante around at all. He wondered where the demon hunter was. But then there was the fact that Jen said she was a remnant. "You said you're a remnant of Jenova?!" He called locking eyes with the pale woman.

Again, Jen nodded as she lift her head higher as if proud. "I am. I am the last bit of Jenova left on the Planet! She told them.

The others all glanced at one another with nods. Then they knew they had to destroy this last bit. Vincent, however, was still glancing around for Dante. "Where's Dante then?! Didn't he find you yet?!" He called to her. Jen smirked coldly down at the Ex-Turk. "Yes, Dante found me all right, Valentine!" She told him. "And he really pissed me off when he refused to kill you after what this rat told him! He failed to kill you and I punished him!" She laughed when she saw a few shocked looks on the Avalanche's face. "Yes, Avalanche. The Demon Hunter is dead! Dante is gone!"

Marlene in her grip stared up at her dumbfounded and tears filled her eyes. The word dead was echoing in her ears. She slowly shook her head. "No…." She whispered in pain.

Below, Vincent stepped back with the others. They couldn't believe it. Dante was dead? But how could he have been beaten? He had been a powerful warrior. "You killed Dante?!" Cloud called. "How?!"

Jen touched the gray orb in Dante's amulet. "I have stolen his powers away from him and I used the powers of the White and Black materia! Dante is now lifeless at the bottom at that worthless Ancient's lake!" She announced.

Again, everyone was stunned by the news. They all were staring at the gray orb with disbelief. They just couldn't believe that it was the two materia combined together. But they didn't want to really find out. They could already tell that the new Materia was dangerous. There was a dreadful feeling in the air.

"What do you want, Jen?!" Cloud asked, his hand now tightening on the handle of his sword.

Jen smirked as she brought Marlene closer to her. "I, human scum, want to rule the Planet, of course. Just like my mother and Sephiroth did! I will do exactly what they were trying to achieve and I will succeed. This Planet belongs to me! And I will kill whoever gets in my way!"

Marlene finally cracked after letting the words of Dante's death roll around in her mind. She burst into tears before swinging her foot and kicking Jen hard in the leg. "You mean lady! You killed Dante! I hate you! Dante did nothing to you! And you killed him! He was my FRIEND!!" She screamed up at the silver haired woman.

Jen cried out in pain and rage before she threw Marlene off the building onto the level below the one she was on. "You little bitch!" She snapped in rage.

That was the cue for Barrett to raise his gun arm and began firing heavily into the air at Jen. Vincent and Rufus quickly joined in while everyone scattered to attack the tentacles. However, Jen moved way too fast before the bullets hit her. She rose high into the sky with blazing enraged eyes glaring down at them. "You will all beg for mercy by the time I'm done with you." She said very coldly before she threw her arms out above her head. And the tentacles began their attacks on the group of Avalanche and the Shinra former employees. Everyone had to scatter as the tentacles began to whip at them, sending them moving everywhere. All had their weapons out and ready for them.

The group of friends immediately started their attacks on this monster with many arms. Barret looked at Vincent as he tried to blow holes into one tentacle.

"Vincent! Can you get up to Marlene?! See if she's okay?!" He yelled.

Vincent turned to him but then nodded. He turned around and rushed for the building, jumping high over one tentacle and onto one of the girders. He began jumping level to level, trying to get to Marlene as fast as he could. He needed to see if she was okay.

And just as he had her in his sight, right in front of him, he felt something slam into him, sending them both flying off the building again and crashing into another. Vincent hit the ground pretty hard but shook it off quickly as a blade came flying at him. He jumped to his feet and had his Death Penalty aimed at Jen as she faced off with him. "Jen." He spoke so coldly.

Jen smirked at him as she held up her knife. "Chaos," She spoke slowly. "You are a threat to me and my plans. So I will kill you here and now." She then charged, swinging the blade. Vincent quickly moved back now firing off his gun and trying to avoid getting slashed. His eyes blazing hot red as he tried his best to fighting her.

In the next building, Marlene groaned as she tried to wake herself up. Her head was pounding with pain from the impact. She still had tears falling down her face from crying. She was in pain, emotionally and physically. She didn't want Dante to be dead. She wanted him right there and now holding her hand and calling her "Kiddo".

"Marlene!"

Marlene rolled over and looked to see Denzel climbing up onto the level, just as sopping wet as she was. He pulled himself to his feet and rushed over to her side. "Marlene! Are you okay?!" He asked. Marlene sat up with a jolt and threw her arms around her friend, crying again. "Denzel! Dante is dead! She killed him!" She cried, her shoulders shaking. "That mean lady, Jen killed my friend, Dante!"

Denzel wrapped his arms around her, trying his best to comfort her. "I'm sorry, Marlene." He told her gently. "I wish he was here." Marlene just nodded in agreement.

Suddenly there was a loud crash from below them, making the entire skeleton of the building shaking. Marlene and Denzel quickly looked over the edge and down to see that one of the tentacles crashed into the frames, bending most of them. The building was no longer stable. It was now starting to tilt forward and to fall. Both Marlene and Denzel cried out they slipped on the wet metal, hitting the ground. Denzel quickly grabbed a hold of a pole while Marlene held onto his waist. "Hold on, Marlene! Don't let go!" He yelled as he tried his best to pull himself up.

That was then they heard another loud crack above them and they looked up to see metal beams starting to wave and then snap, falling towards them. Marlene couldn't help but scream in fear as she buried her face into Denzel's stomach while he turned a little to protect her.

Just then there was a loud thud as if something had just slammed into the metal flooring of the platform right beside them. Marlene and Denzel both jerked their heads to see what it was as soon as they heard a loud growl and a loud rain of bullets shot up into the sky at the beam. To their shock, it was a large black and blue demonic creature with a pair of demonic looking guns in its claws. The bullets hit the beam knocking it off to the side and away from the children and it. Too startled, Denzel's grip slipped on the pole and the two children slid right off the platform, both screaming. Marlene screamed as she kept a tight hold around her friend's waist, while he grabbed her arms to hold onto her. They both saw the demon jerk around and watch them fall off the building.

With a growl, the demon dove right after them, its wings folded tightly on its back for speed. As soon as it was close to the two children, it caught them in its arms and then it spread its wings out to catch the air. Immediately the three pulled up into the sky and was flying quickly over to the side.

The demon held the two frightened children close to its wide powerful chest as it flew onto a neighboring building, landing gently and releasing the children. As soon as it let go of them, Denzel pulled Marlene back, his arm around her in a protecting way. They drew back in fear as they looked into the cold blue eyes of the demon. "St-stay behind me, Marlene." Denzel spoke to her. Marlene slowly nodded as she did so. They both flinched when the demon reached for them with its clawed hands.


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey, readers! I am soooo, very, entirely sorry for taking so long in updating this story. I haven't really had very much access to the internet lately and so I couldn't really update when I should have. But anyway, I hope that none of you have given up on this story. Because I do plan ending this story with a finishing "The End". **

**Anyway, here's the chapter you've all been waiting for. So please, read and review. Thanks for being patient with me. **

**Serin

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**Chapter Eight**

Denzel and Marlene closed their eyes waiting for the demon to harm them, both whimpering in fear. But then a gentle hand touched both of their heads in a soft way. It didn't feel like claws anymore. They felt like human hands. So out of curiosity, they both opened their eyes to see who it was. And Marlene gasped with happiness before she threw herself into Dante's arms. "Dante! You're alive!" She cried happily. "You came back!"

Dante held the girl with one arm but his face had softened. "Of course I came back." He told her. He then pulled away and looked her over. "Marlene, are you hurt? Denzel?" He asked looked at the boy. Both children shook their heads. "No, we're okay. Thanks, Dante." Denzel said.  
The demon hunter only nodded before he turned and went over to the side looking at the chaos that Jen had caused. His eyes darkened with hate as he saw her fighting Vincent, and doing quite the job in beating him. "She has made a mess of things and I was a fool to believing her." He growled. His hand shot up and he grabbed Alastor's handle, his foot lifting up to the ledge.

"Dante! Wait!"

Dante turned to look at Marlene, who was close to tears. He frowned and stepped down from the ledge, towards her. Again Marlene moved forward and hugged him. "I thought you were dead! Jen told everyone that she killed you." She cried into his chest.

"She thinks I'm dead, Marlene." Dante told her gently. "She did come very close to helping me but she failed. I'm here to clean up her mess and stop her." He then reached down and lifted her face. "Hey, I made a promise, remember? I wasn't going to let her hurt you."

Marlene smiled up at him through her tears. "Yeah." She pulled away, letting him have space. "What are you going to do?" She asked, watching him walk back to the ledge. Dante stepped up onto the ledge and look down at the monstrous tentacles waving around. "For starters, I'm going to show Jen that she used the wrong demon as her pawn for her evil deeds. And to do that, I'm going to destroy her new pet." He growled dangerously before threw himself forward, flipping into the air and falling down.  
Both Marlene and Denzel ran over to the side to watch him. They saw Dante fall hard and fast, Alastor in his hand as he fell towards a tentacle that nearly had Cloud pinned to the wall.

Moments before, Cloud was fighting a large tentacle, slashing it hard as he jumped high over it. But it moved just as quickly and slammed him into the building. It pressed him into the wall, while he tried his best to keeping it at bay with his swords. But slowly, his strength in his arms was starting to wane. Just then he saw something red flash right through the tentacle, landing hard on the ground as the sword sliced right through the tentacle. Below their feet, there was a loud screech of pain as the cut up tentacle quickly retreated into the ground from where it came from. Cloud, on the other hand, pushing the remaining part of the tentacle away and looked to whoever helped him. He was seriously surprised to see Dante standup straight and look right into his eyes.

"Hey, Cloud. Nice to see you again." The demon hunter remarked.

The bewildered blonde swordsman would have stepped back in surprise if he were not already against the wall. "Dante?!" He gasped. "Dante, I thought you were dead!"

Dante shook his head as slid Alastor away behind his back. "No, I'm still alive. Jen thought she killed me but I had a little help from a friend or two. I got here as fast as I could to come help you but I got distracted for a minute." He nodded to the collapsed tower. Cloud's eyes widened as he took a step towards it. "Marlene!" He cried out but stopped when Dante placed his hand on his shoulder. "She's okay. She and Denzel are safe. They're up there." He said pointing upward. Cloud tilted his head back and saw the two children waving at him. He sighed with relief before smiling at Dante. "Thank you, Dante. I owe one big time."

Dante didn't smile back as he stared coolly at the blonde. "You want to pay me back right now?" He asked. Cloud looked surprised but nodded. "Then help me kill that bitch and get my amulet back. That was a gift from my mother and I want it back now." The demon hunter said as he turned to look up at where Jen and Vincent were fighting.

Cloud just looked as serious as he looked up at Jen then back at Dante. "Jen said she killed you. What happened?"

Dante looked back at him then shook his head. "The bitch played dirty. She ambushed me and put these two orbs together, making them into one. And then she stabbed me before beating me to hell." He just shrugged. "A man saved my life and his girlfriend healed me. They told me to just make sure Jen pays for what she's trying to do."

Cloud frowned but nodded. "So, how are we going to beat her?"

Dante shook his head as he looked at him. "You're not going to beat her, Cloud. Valentine and I will. We're the only ones strong enough to fight her. She's way out of your league. I've heard what you did to that Sephiroth guy but this chick is more demon than some crazy nut." He shrugged. "You and the others just take care of the demon under the ground."

"Okay." Cloud replied before tilting his head. "Who helped you anyway? The man and the woman?"

Dante opened his mouth to say but there was a sudden movement off to their side making them both spin around, getting ready for an attack by one of the tentacles, which was swinging at them fast.

Just then there was a loud howl and snarl just as a large gray wolf leapt from a building. It landed onto the tentacle and began to biting and tearing into the rubbery skin. At least it stopped the tentacle from hitting the two swordsmen. Cloud straightened with a frown while Dante smiled. They watched the wolf attack the tentacle with such fierceness. The blonde recognized the wolf instantly but he really never knew about it. Dante seemed to know more about the wolf more. He was nodding an approval and just as the wolf let go it approached them. The demon hunter nodded again before scratching the wolf behind the ears. "Good boy, Fenrir. Thanks for the help." He told it. The wolf growled pleasantly before it turned and ran at the tentacles again.

"Fenrir?" Cloud asked looking at the white haired man. "When did you meet him?"

Dante shook his head as he looked at him. "That's who saved my life. He called himself Fenrir." He told him. Cloud just nodded before he pulled out his swords and started hooking them into one. "All right. Let's get this done and over with. Those kids need to go to bed." He said. Dante smirked and nodded. Then the two charged at the tentacles.

High above everyone's heads, Vincent slammed down onto one of the roofs of a building after Jen had attacked him. He was out of breath and badly cut up. He just couldn't believe on how fast and strong this woman was. There was no way she could be this strong. It must have been Dante's amulet. It could have enhanced her powers and that was probably not a good thing.

"So, you're supposed to be the fearsome Chaos demon?" Jen laughed as she circled Vincent. "Don't make me laugh! You're weak and stupid! I can't believe I actually feared you."

Vincent slowly got to his feet, glaring at her.

"You've defeated Hojo, Shinra, Sephiroth but you can not beat me. A remnant!" Jen said in a taunting way. "Your heart is supposed to be black as mine but you don't use the power in it." She tsked before raising a hand and blasted Vincent with a Holy spell. The Ex-Turk grunted as he went flying back, landing hard on his side, his clothes were smoldering with smoke from the spell she threw at him. "You, Vincent, are a washed up, weak and wicked demon who shall be slain for the name of Jenova." Jen said as she raised her poisoned blade. Vincent just closed his eyes, going to let her kill him. It was true, he believed. He was a weak and wicked demon who should be dead. He figured that if he died now, his pain and nightmares would finally end.

Suddenly there was a loud crack of thunder, lightning cracking in the sky just as a gun went off. The blade in Jen's hand went flying out of her hand and slammed into a wooden pole, blade first. Jen sharply turned around and glared at whoever decided to interfere. But then she froze with shock, her breath caught in her throat. "N-no….it can't be."

Vincent opened his eyes and looked a pair of boots that stood close to him. His eyes traveled up until he saw who had just saved his life. And he was surprised to see Dante. Dante was glaring at Jen with hate in his eyes, his twin guns aimed on her. His eyes just glared hard into her poisonous eyes as he moved closer to Vincent. "Valentine, get to your feet now." He said firmly. Vincent blinked in surprise but then did so. "Dante, you're alive." He said quietly.

"Yeah. I'm alive and very pissed off!" Dante growled as he continued to glare at Jen. "It's time to die, Jen. You have pissed me off and that's not very smart."

Jen glared right back. "How are you still alive?! I killed you!" She screamed in rage. Dante narrowed his eyes dangerously at her, his guns still trained on her. "Let's say an angel named Aeris came around and saved my life before I did die." He told her coldly. "You know, you're so called sister."

Vincent was surprised when he heard Aeris' name but Jen looked outraged. "Aeris! That worthless Ancient?! I should have known that she would meddle in my affairs!" She then shook her head. "No matter! I will kill you again and this time you will stay dead!" She snapped. Dante shook his head. "Not this time, Jen. You caught me off guard last time and it won't happen again." He said coldly. Jen sneered at him as she reached up and caressed the amulet. "Have you forgotten one thing?" She told him. "I have your demon powers. I am so much stronger than you and you can't transform."

Dante smirked as he put his guns away and pulled out Alastor. "My amulet helps my powers. But it has nothing to do with my transforming. I will be having that back once we kill you. That was my mother's and you had no right to take it!"

"We?" Jen asked frowning.

Dante nodded to Vincent. "Valentine and me. We are demons who destroy evil beings like you. Valentine is not wicked in any form and he did not kill anyone who didn't deserve it. He killed monsters like you, Jen. Jenova, Sephiroth, the remnants. And soon he will kill you. Right along side me." He told her. Jen looked furious but then she smirked coldly. "He won't kill me."

Vincent's eyes darkened as he took out his Death Penalty. "The hell I won't." He hissed quietly.

Jen lifted her head higher as she placed her hand on her waist. "No you won't, Vincent." She said smiling coldly. "Do you even know who I am? Who I was?" She only received questionable looks from both men in red. "I was Lucrecia Cresent, of course."

Vincent stepped back in alarm but Dante continued to frown. He wasn't sure who that was but it was obvious that Vincent once knew she was talking about. He even looked five times paler than he already was. His blood colored eyes was wide with shock and recognition. "Lu-Lucrecia?" The Ex-Turk whispered.  
Jen smirked as she pushed her long bangs out of her poisonous colored eyes. "That's right, Vincent. It is I, Lucrecia, now a remnant of Jenova. And you," She smirked even more coldly as she tilted her head almost innocently at him. "You can't kill me. You won't kill me. Because you were in love with Lucrecia Cresent" She told him.

"Vincent."

Vincent looked at Dante, who was still glaring at Jen fiercely. He was surprised to see how hard the half demon was looking at the moment before he turned that hard look onto him. "That is not Lucrecia Cresent. If she really is the woman you once loved, then she's dead. You don't seem the type that would fall in love with someone so cruel." Dante told him. "Ask yourself this, Valentine Demon. Would Lucrecia act this way? To you? Would she try to kill a little girl who kicked her? Would she try to destroy good people?" He turned his icy stare back onto Jen, who looked outraged. "I don't think so. If she is really like that, I'm sorry. But I'll have to kill your girlfriend for trying to hurt that little girl, Marlene. I don't like it when kids have to cry."

There was a long silence before Vincent's face darkened and he moved towards Dante, looking very dark. Dante only glanced at him, his hand tightening on his sword but then he noticed the cool smile on Jen's face. She truly believed that Vincent was going to defend her now that he thought she was Lucrecia.  
But her eyes flashed with shock when the Valentine Demon turned towards her, standing beside Dante with his Death Penalty trained on her. "Vincent Valentine?!" She demanded.

"Jenova," Vincent spoke in a dark tone. "You are not Lucrecia. So be silent with your lies. I've heard enough."

Jen gave him a cool look as she just faced the two demons, her head slowly shaking. "I am Lucrecia, Vincent. Why would I lie to you?" She asked, smirking coolly. "Are you really going to kill me, kill the one woman you once loved?"

Vincent lowered his head a little but kept his blood colored eyes on her, which surprisingly to the demonic woman and the half demon beside him when they started to glow hot red. "I know you are not Lucrecia. Lucrecia was kind and beautiful woman. Though you are beautiful, you do not have the same beauty as she did." He spoke in a low voice. "And I will not just stand here and let you insult her memory." He then threw his cloak back so it was out of his way. "Now, it's time to hunt a demon." He said quietly glancing at Dante. Beside him, Dante smiled slyly and nodded in agreement. Both jabbed their guns in the direction of Jen.

"Very well." Jen spoke coldly as her face started to glow a deep blue color. "Let's fight. But you will not defeat me. I am so much more powerful than you both." She told them. Dante snorted as he held out his twin guns, taking them off of safety. "In your dreams, demon." And he charged with Vincent at his side.


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hey everyone. Here's the next chapter, like I promised. This one mostly belongs to Avalanche, Shinra and another warrior who has decided to jump in to help fight the large, several tentacled monster. So, sit back, relax and enjoy.

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****Chapter nine**

Below their battle, Avalanche and the former Shinra employees were still hacking away at the large tentacles as they fast as they could. But as one was destroyed, more burst out of the ground and attacked them one after another. The group of warriors were fighting fiercely but tiring quickly. This monster was clearly different from what they were used to fighting. It was almost as tough as Weapon was.

Cloud was slicing through the tentacles with his swords, trying very hard to concentrate on the task at hand while near him Tifa was slamming her fists into the monster's waving arms. She kept performing her limit breaks one after another. Barret and Rufus were blasting at the waving tentacles with their guns, blasting holes into them. But more tentacles were showing up. Nanaki and the wolf, Fenrir were tearing their jaws into the monster near by, leaping from tentacle to tentacle. Reeve and Cait Sith were tagged team in attacking them with magic. As for Reno, Rude and Yuffie, they were all side by side, attacking viciously.

"Die, monster!" Reno snapped as he beat the tentacles savagely with his electro rod.

Close by, Cloud crinkled his nose before returning to attacking the tentacles with more. He jumped high into the air as a large tentacle came close to slamming him into the ground. He came down on it, slicing the arm all the way through.  
From within the ground, there came a loud painful and angry screech before the ground started rumbling and shaking.  
All of them stopped to look around with shock on their faces as in the middle of the town square the ground started to break away and mold upward, as if something was pushing its way up.  
Tifa nearly stumbled but was caught by Barret before she could hit the ground. They could see something coming out of the ground and by the looks of it, it was enormous. After a long moment, there was an explosion as the road above the monster shot upward and debris went flying everywhere as did dust, which was quickly washed away by the heavy rain.

The creature itself was like a giant octopus, only without suction cups on its tentacles. Its head was large with huge eight pairs of eyes which were looking around at the group of fighters with rage. It looked very much like an octo-spider. At the creature's large mouth, there were even two large and sharp pinchers, clicking furiously at the warriors. Within the mouth were rows and rows of sharp teeth.

"Oh god." Tifa gasped as she looked up at the creature with horror.

Cid's toothpick he had been chewing on fell from his mouth as he gawked up at the monster as it rose higher into the air, standing on only a few of the arms it decided not to wave around. "Dammit! We're sunk." He groaned.

Cloud gritted his teeth with frustration. He knew this was going to be very difficult. But they had to do everything they could to put an end to this. "Let's do it!" The blonde warrior shouted to his friends before charging. Everyone nodded and followed suit, brandishing their weapons. Half of them jumped high into the air to attack the waving tentacles while the other half attacked the legs it was standing on.

Quickly, Cloud was swinging both of his blades, slashing at everything that was around him. The tentacles were coming fast and hard at him, but he wasn't going to give up at all. He could see the others fighting just as hard as he was.

Above them, the monster roared in rage as it attacked back at the Avalanche members and the Shinra employees. It was fighting for its life, and trying to cause as much chaos as it could for it was even hitting at buildings too.

Cloud jumped high into the air, slashing into one of the tentacles with as much power as he could muster. The blades almost went completely through but the monster swung that one up into the air, taking the blond with it before it slammed him hard into a building. Cloud gasped in pain as his back made contact with the stonework of the building but to his horror, the tentacle did not pull away as he thought it would. Instead, it began to press him harder against the building, as if it was going to squish him like a bug.  
He was pinned and could not move, no matter how hard he tried. And what was worst, the pressure against him made him drop his swords till they struck the ground with a loud clang, sticking blade first.  
The blonde warrior now struggled hard to get loose but the sheer strength of this monster was amazing. It felt like trying to push a stone wall over.

"Cloud!" He heard Tifa scream, for she had seen what kind of mess he was in. She started running towards him but another tentacle swung at her and sent her flying across the square. And then with the one pinning him there against the building, the monster moved its head closer as to eat Cloud, its mouth spilling saliva out of it.

Suddenly, there was an angered howl from the wolf as it charged, which quickly turned into a human cry of rage. Cloud didn't see what happened but there was a sudden flash of black and blue right before him and he saw a blade slash right through the tentacle holding him there.  
With pain, the monster screamed and yanked its now bloody stump of an arm away, allowing the blonde human to fall the twenty feet away from the ground. Cloud landed hard on his feet, which the impact sent him to his hands and knees and then his stomach. His air had been knocked from his lungs but he knew he didn't have time to linger. So he quickly climbed to one knee and reached for one of his swords not lying to far away from him.

However, there was a loud thud as a black boot landed right on top of the blade, keeping him from picking it up. The boot stayed there though, and out of instinct, Cloud looked up to see who owned that boot. His eyes grew wide at the sight of the black haired man, grinning down at him.

"Come on, Cloud." Zack told him as he offered his gloved hand to the blonde. "We can beat this thing if we fight together."

Cloud stared at Zack with shock before he slowly reached up and took his old friend's hand, letting the true Soldier pull him up. "Zack….you're….you're….." He couldn't find himself to finish.  
Zack just grinned at him as he held up his old bustersword and looked up at the monster. "Alive? No. Not really. I'm not exactly dead, either. I guess you can say," He paused to look at him. "The Lifestream sent me here to help fix the nasty problem Jenova decided to bring in. So that's why I'm here. Now let's take this thing down."

"Hmm." Cloud hummed before he picked up his two swords and held them tightly in his hands. "All right. Let's do this, Zack. Like old times." He told him, as he put the swords together, latching them into one. Zack grinned right back at him, holding up a fist. "Like old times, buddy!" And they charged together, slashing the swinging tentacles with their blades.

The other warriors didn't notice the two swordsmen fighting side by side until they all got up off the ground after being swiped to the side by the tentacles. It had been Reno who noticed the new warrior first. With a frown, he tried to brush water off of his spoiled suit before pointing. "Hey, who the hell is that?"  
Then everyone looked to see who he was talking about. They looked just in time to see Zack and Cloud leaping tentacle to tentacle while slashing at them before jumping to the next. Tifa's eyes widened at the sight of Zack. She remembered him immediately as the spiky haired Soldier from Nibelhiem. "Zack?! It can't be him! I thought he was dead!"

Barret and the others gave her an alarmed look. They knew that name. They remembered Cloud had once told them about Zack. "Spike's old pal?! The heck he's doin' here?!" The large black man exclaimed.

Rufus frowned with the Turks then looked over at Tifa, in such a questionable way. "Who is that man?"

Tifa looked at him before she shook her head. "His name is Zack. He was a Soldier for Shinra. He used to work with Sephiroth and had been Cloud's best friend." She looked back up at the swordsmen before she stepped back. "Our fight is done. It's theirs now. It's up to them now to finish this monster."

Cloud and Zack were practically dancing around the tentacles and slashing them to bits. They bounced off the blubber like surface only to come down on it it again as they slashed out at the monster over and over again. It was to their disgust that more tentacles were appearing. It reminded them both of the mythical monster, Hydra. Every time they slashed a tentacle, more would appear. Soon it was practically just a enormous ball of tentacles waving around in the air and it was becoming more dangerous.

"Damn it!" Cloud yelled as he looked down from his perch on a metal beam. "This is impossible! Every time we slash something off, another grows back!"

Beside him, Zack was frowning as he held onto a metal beam, his Bustersword tight in his hand. He looked like he was doing some quick thinking. "Yeah. But we can do it, Cloud. Since the arms are a no go, let's go for the eyes." He told them.

Cloud nodded as they stood straighter on the girders before they leapt down from the building onto a swinging tentacle and slid down it like they snowboarding. The monster, however, had too many arms so it wasn't even sure where they were. It kept looking around and swinging everywhere. But it caught sight of them sliding in and out through its arms and it tried to swing at them. It missed every time.  
Soon, Cloud and Zack were surrounded by slimy, wet arms. They were close enough to see the angry eyes now spinning around for them before it spotted them with all eight as they landed on a tentacle before its giant head. Angrily it tried to hit them with all of its tentacles.  
Fortunately for the two swordsmen, there were too many arms and they hit each other and not them. Zack smirked smugly as he looked up at the monster before he gripped his sword with both hands. "Go for the eyes, Cloud."

Cloud nodded as he gripped his sword tightly with his own hands and they charged at the large head. The two began bouncing off the tentacles until they were very close to the first two eyes. Without a word, Cloud and Zack slashed at the eyes, cutting deep. There was a loud screech of pain as the monster began to thrash around and tried to hit at them. Wincing from the loud racket, both spiky haired men slid down the monster's face, slashing at any eyes they came in reach of.

But as they fell onto another tentacle, the monster used the last remaining eye to glare at them and stretched out all of the tentacles to allow the one tentacle they were on towards its head.

Zack was the first to see it coming, his eyes flashing darkly before he grabbed Cloud's shoulder. "Cloud! Watch out!" He yelled before he threw the blonde out of the way. He, himself, was engulfed within the monster's mouth. The monster sunk its sharp teeth into its own its own flesh where Zack was before it tore a chunk out, swallowing it and Zack whole.

And Cloud could only watch in horror. "No!" The blonde yelled as he quickly stood up and gripped his sword even more tightly. "Zack!"

The monster turned its eyes back onto him, almost sneering at him. Then it roared and started for him next. Cloud just glared up at the monster before he quickly separated his swords and held both tight in his hand. With an outraged battle cry, he charged forward to finish this off.

But to his surprise, the monster stopped so he did. He could hear it.

There was a low rumble as if the monster's stomach was grumbling with more hunger. Or as if it was very upset. The rumble grew louder and the monster began to quiver. It looked like it was going to be sick. Cloud frowned before he noticed a certain spot between two tentacles where the slimy skin began turn fiery red and then slowly went black as it began to burn.

Suddenly there was an explosion of fire and smoke from that area. Chunks of the monster went flying everywhere, making Cloud cringe back as the chunks rained down on him. He only raised an arm to shield himself before he saw another explosion, only this time it was of light. The intensity of the light began to cook the monster's flesh and Cloud felt the heat of the attack. He knew if he stayed there it would could him too. But he had enough sense to just turn and run away as fast as he could.  
As soon as he was well out of danger, he turned to watch as the monster burst into a smoking heap. Flames began explode from everywhere, even out of the waving tentacles. The monster roared in pain before it exploded into bright red light.

Though it was gone now, the smoke lingered.

And slowly, something was coming out from within the smoke. Cloud frowned as he tilted his head, preparing to fight if it was another threat but once the smoke cleared, he relaxed and smiled.

Zack was walking towards him with a grin on his face and his Bustersword resting against his shoulder as he just walked right up to Cloud. "How ya worried for a moment, didn't I?" He asked in a teasing way. Cloud smiled as he lowered his sword. "Yeah. You did have me worried." He told him. Then he turned around when he heard someone yell out his name.

Both turned to see Tifa hurrying towards them, smiling ear to ear. She was clearly happy to see both of them alive and well. Behind her, the others were running towards them. "Cloud! Zack! Thank goodness, you're okay!" She said happily.  
Cloud smiled right back while Zack waved at the martial artist. "Hey, Tour guide Tifa!" He said in a greeting. "Nice to see you again." He told her. Tifa just smiled at him as she stopped right in front of him and Cloud. "My name is Tifa! Call me Tifa." She told him. The black haired swordsman only nodded as he looked upwards at what was going on with the battling demons. Everyone followed suit and they could see Vincent and Dante still facing Jen.

"Come on! Let's go help Vince and Dante now!" Barret said now starting to rush towards the building they were on top of.

However, Zack quickly grabbed the large black man's shoulder, holding him back from going anywhere. He shook his head when everyone looked at him. "Sorry. But we can't do anything now. It's their fight. We'll only get in the way." He told them before tilting his head upward. "Only a demon can defeat a demon."


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

The lightening cracked loudly in the sky, high above the three's heads. The light illuminated the battle that was taking place on the roof tops, both demons in red were moving as fast as they could as the demonic woman attacked them. They were all ignoring the rain as it came down on them in large, hard drops.  
Jen's eyes were glowing hot blue as Vincent's was glowing fiery red. Next to the Ex-Turk, Dante was glowing bright red, as if he was going to transform into his demon form. "You fools! You will die for defying me!" Jen yelled as she threw fire spells at both.  
Dante quickly flipped out of the way in one direction while the other man in red moved off into the other direction. "Not really, Jen!" He called up to her. "You got yourself into this mess! You do not know who you are dealing with! You've chosen to mess with the wrong demons!"

Jen just growled before she charged at him at a high speed, her fists bursting into flames and she threw them at the two men. Both barely had time to move out of the way as she nearly barreled into them. Dante pulled out Alastor and began swinging it at her but Jen moved out of the way almost gracefully. It was a dangerous dance between the three. Vincent's red cloak snapped in the wind and the rain as he slashed out at Jen with his golden claws. He missed because she was more swift than they both put together. It was alarming on how fast she truly was.  
The deadly dance grew more violent as Jen threw spell after spell at Dante and Vincent, who did their best to avoid collision. It was not very easy at all. Dante cursed loudly as a Holy burned past his arm, and scorched Vincent's front. The impact knocked both off their feet but they were on their feet as fast as they had been knocked down.

"Give it up, demons. I am more powerful than you ever will be." Jen laughed high above their heads.

Dante growled before he slammed Alastor into the roof of the building and then began yanking off his red trench coat. He knew that if he kept it on any longer it would probably get ruined and he did not want that to happen. He loved his red coat. So he tossed it to the side before yanking his sword free from the building. "I never give up on anything I'm committed to, bitch." He growled.

"I will not give in." Vincent hissed just as angrily as Dante.

And they went at it again, only more violent and viciously. Guns were flaring with bright light as they were shot off and the two men were flipping everywhere as they continued to try and destroy this evil woman. They refused let her win. They would fight to the death if they had to. But if they died, they would take her down with them.  
The battle grew more fierce as Jen began throwing destructive spells at her enemies. Vincent and Dante dodged easily, even though it came as very close calls. The spells, however, were causing a lot of damage. The metal beams of the building were becoming molten liquid and stone debris were flying everywhere. There were more explosions as Jen continued to throw her spells.  
And Dante was starting to lose his patience. He knew this battle was getting out of hand and if Jen was not stopped immediately, an innocent life would be destroyed by this bitch. He also knew that he needed his amulet back and now. It was the reason why they weren't doing any damage to her. Every blow they did to her would only heal up just as fast as they did hit her because of it.

"Vincent! We're gonna need to change soon!" He yelled as he barrel rolled to avoid a large spell then jumped up shooting like crazy at Jen with his twin revolvers.

Vincent ducked behind a smoldering generator, which was being reduced to nothing by the powerful Holy spells the wench was throwing at him and Dante. "Change?! What do you mean change?!" He yelled over to the silver haired youth before ducking down low as a Holy spell buzzed right past his head.

Dante gritted his teeth before he fired at Jen to help Vincent out. "We need to become demons, Valentine! Let Chaos out! Or at least get very close to Jen!" He yelled before he moved as Jen tried to throw a nasty Ultima spell at him next. It nearly melted the platform there.

"Why?!" Vincent yelled as he jumped up and started shooting off Death Penalty at Jen.

Dante ducked low under a large ball of flames before he jumped high into the air and sent several rounds at Jen, who ducked behind a large beam. "I need my amulet back, Vincent!" He yelled just as a bolt of lightning cracked across the sky. "If I don't' get back, Jen can kill me! It has a crystal in it that heals the wounds of the wearer instantly! That's why we're not hurting her!"

Vincent stood up quickly, his eyes flashing bright red. "Then go get your amulet! I'll distract her!" He yelled before he began firing at Jen. He was now transforming into something. There were two large black horns curling out from his long hair and purple fur began to grow from the pores of his skin.  
Dante was surprised to see that what was happening but at least Vincent had Jen's full attention now. She looked only at the Ex-Turk now. He watched as the wench began backing away as the beast Vincent had transformed quickly advanced on her. It wasn't the fact that Vincent had actually transformed into a demon that had Dante's surprise. It was the fact that this was not the demon he saw before. This one was different.

"…..! He wasn't kidding at all then! He does have more than one demon." The silver haired young man before he looked seriously at Jen, for her back was to him now as she kept her gaze onto Galian Beast. Then he quickly moved forward, moving every time they did to stay right behind Jen. He did not want her to notice him at all until he had his amulet back.

However…..she did notice him.

As Jen was occupying herself with fighting Galian Beast, sending some kind of psyblasts at the demon, she sensed something coming up behind her. Her eyes flashed dangerously before she swung her hand, sending a powerful Quake3 spell at the demon and knocking him right off of his feet before she spun around and slapped her hand against Dante's chest, for he was that close. Dante froze, his icy eyes flashing dangerously at hers. He had been so close to just grabbing the amulet. Now he was facing her, with his fingers just barely touching the amulet on her chest.

"Hello, Dante." Jen said coolly, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Change your mind about us yet?"

The silver white haired half demon's face darkened and he shook his head. "Nope. I haven't changed my mind about how big of a bitch you are." He told her coolly. "And I haven't changed my mind about killing you."

Jen tilted her head to the side before she reached up with her free hand and roughly grabbed his chin. He didn't even fight her as she moved closer. "Such a pity." She muttered before she slammed her lips against his. Dante was taken by surprise by the action but then his eyes widened when he felt the hot energy from her other hand, the one on his chest. He had time to look down when she pulled away to see that her hand was glowing hot white. Then he looked wide eyed up at her, which she just smirked coldly at him before blasting him in the chest with a Holy spell.  
Dante's body went flying through the air, smoldering with smoke and he crashed into the next building over. But not before he had grabbed the amulet around Jen's neck and tore it from her neck. She had not noticed at all. She just turned away from Dante as he went flying far across the street and turned her eyes back onto Galian Beast as he shrank back into Vincent Valentine.

Though Dante had gotten a hold of his amulet from Jen, he was still in a very bad shape as he went crashing through the building's walls. The Holy spell Jen had used burned off his the front of his black shirt and scorched his chest badly that the skin had melted, revealing cooked muscle.

And he was in more pain than he had ever been in.

What was worst, as he crashed through the building, he dropped the amulet from the impact, which it fell from the high drop and landed right on the roof where Marlene and Denzel had been watching in horror. Marlene turned with a jerk when she heard something fall behind her and her friend and saw the amulet.

Vincent smelled the burnt flesh in the air as he climbed to his feet, groaning from the attack he had just gotten from Jen. He turned his eyes in the direction of the next building and could see Dante from a far. He saw the smoke curling above the half demon and he knew that he was in a terrible shape. "Dante……" The Ex-Turk muttered in horror before he turned his blood red eyes towards Jen, who landed in between him and Dante.

Jen smirked coldly as she dipped her head into her neck. "Yes, Vincent Valentine. Dante, the Great Demon Hunter is dead. Thus falls the great son of Sparda." She then looked over her shoulder at the motionless Dante. "Such a weak fool."

There was a sudden inhuman growl making her look back at Vincent, who was glowing hot red now. Her eyes lit up in surprise as she saw his body was shaking violently and his eyes were glowing brighter than before.  
Vincent was shaking with his head lowered. He could feel the walls of control starting to crumble and he was letting it happen. Slowly, he lift his head and his glowing red eyes peered hatefully through the soaked strands of his hair at Jen, who was startled by what was going on. **"You….."** came four different voices. **"Dante is a good demon…..and you tried to kill him!"** There was an explosion of red light as a pair of black leathery wings shot out from Vincent's back, mixed with red. His skin began to darken until it was completely black. With a roar of rage, Vincent's head was tossed back as the red light grew too bright for Jen to see, and a second later, she was looking at the demon, Chaos standing before her.

For someone so powerful and terrifying, Jen was terrified of what she was looking at. Her eyes had grown wide with shock and fear at the sight of Chaos standing before her. But she was not going to show this demon that she was afraid at all. She just smirked weakly at Chaos, placing her thin hand onto her waist. "You still can't win, Vincent. I'm still too powerful for you." She told him boldly.

The demon standing before her, looked at her through narrowed eyes before he spread out his bat like wings. "I'm not Valentine, Jenova." The dangerous demon spoke darkly. "I'm taking over from here." It sneered. "And I will destroy you! It snarled before charging at her. Jen quickly took to the air and Chaos followed just as quickly. They were moving in a blur as they struck at one another.

Dante, unbeknownst to Jen, was still alive but just barely. His body was shaking from pain as he tried his hardest to sit up but the burns ached too bad so he could not move. All he could do was lie there, his tightly closed and his teeth clenched shut. He knew that his life was holding by a thread. He cursed himself for being clumsy and dropping his amulet. That was the only thing he needed to live but because of the burns, his life was slowly draining. He knew if he didn't get his amulet back right now, he would die.  
'Hmm.' He smirked bitterly to himself. 'Big mistake coming here, to the Planet. Since I've gotten here, I've came too close to death.'

"Dante….."

Dante opened his eyes when he heard someone say his name and to his surprise, the woman called Aeris was standing above him. There was a halo of light around her head, making her once again look like an angel. She was smiling down at him with that sweet smile of hers. "Aeris….." He groaned.

Aeris slowly bent down to one knee and gently touched his shoulder where he was not burned. "Dante, it's going to be okay. You will be fine." She told him in a comforting tone. Dante snorted as he eyed the burns on his chest before wincing from the pain. "Right." He muttered sarcastically. "Tell you what, though. If I ever live through this, I am never playing with fire again."

Aeris smiled softly at him before she shook her head. "I bet. Don't worry, Demon Hunter. You will be fine." Then she turned away from him when they heard the pounding of feet coming towards them. With another smile at Dante, Aeris was suddenly gone with a flash of light.

"Dante!"

Dante's blue eyes flickered over to the door just as Marlene and Denzel rushed through. He winced at the look on their faces as soon as they saw him. They looked at him with horror to see what kind of state he was in. Marlene was already in tears as she ran towards him, quickly dropping down by his side. "Dante! You're hurt!"

Denzel quickly joined her, his eyes looking Dante over with worry. "Dante…."

"It's okay, Marlene." Dante tried to reassure them but a second later he groaned in pain and tried to hide his burn with his hands. He knew it was just upsetting the two more by looking at it. Plus it was a sight that no child should see. Marlene sniffed heavily before she shook her head. "Dante, don't lie. You're hurt really bad. Please don't die! Mr. Vincent needs your help! And….and I don't want you to die!" She cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. Dante just shook his head before he reached up and wiped her tears away with his hands. "Knock it off, kiddo. I'll be okay once I get my amulet back. Then I'll teach Jen a lesson for trying to hurt you."

"Your amulet." Marlene whispered before she quickly dug into her pocket and pulled out Dante's amulet, holding it up. "Is this it, Dante? Is this what you need?"

Dante was taken by surprise to even see it right there but then he felt relieved. How he could just kiss this young girl right on the forehead for bringing it to him. She pretty much just saved his life for bringing it to him. Smiling he took it from her and placed the cool metal against his burn, wincing only a little of how cold it was and how it hurt. But at least the healing stone was already glowing and working its magic. "Good girl, Marlene. You are an angel." He told her as he just let the healing process kick in. He was quiet for a long moment before he was able to sit up. "Thank you Marlene." He told her as he did so.

Marlene just smiled at him as she looked at him. "You're welcome, Dante. Are you going to be okay?"

"Eventually." Dante answered as he just sat against the wall, his eyes closed for a moment. But then he looked at her and Denzel. "Are you two all right?" He asked. Both Marlene and Denzel nodded as they crouched next to him watching the healing process. It was a little gross to look at as new skin began to re-grow over his chest but it was also a little fascinating.

Soon, the healing was done and all of Dante's strength had returned. He pushed himself to his feet and began to stretch to get rid of all of the kinks. He even punched a hole through the wall, to make sure his strength was back. And to his satisfaction, it was. The demon hunter turned back to Marlene and Denzel who were standing side by side. "All right, you two. You get back to where your father, where you will be safe. I don't want you to see you get into anymore trouble." He patted Marlene on the head. "Take care of her, Denzel. And stay safe."

The two children nodded as they watched Dante move over to the large hole and look up to where they could see Jen fighting with Chaos. And for once, the tables had turned. Chaos was beating the living hell out of Jen and she looked as if she was getting hit over the head with a fish. She was in shock that she was actually getting beat.

"It's time to hunt." Dante said darkly before there was a bright flash and he transformed into his demon form.

Chaos was doing very well to fighting with Jen. He was pounding her nearly bloody, slashing almost every inch of her body and just moving mover swiftly than she could. It was like a fight between a cat and a dog, who really hated each other. Both bit and slashed at one another, threw destructive spells at one another and just tried to kill the other. Jen was rather beaten by the end of it. As she was slashed across the stomach by the dark demon's claws, she quickly moved back, clutching her middle in pain. "What is going on here?! You're hurting me! But you can't hurt me! I am a Goddess! You can't….!" She was exclaiming.

"Of course I can, wench!" Chaos laughed evilly. "And you had it coming!"

Jen glared at the black demon before she slapped a hand to her neck where she was sure the amulet was suppose to be. "But you shouldn't be hurting me! I'm wearing….." But she stopped when she did not feel the amulet. Her eyes snapped open wide and she looked down to find that the necklace was gone. "What?! No! Where is it?!" She screamed looking around on the roof for it. She turned to glare at Chaos again, seeing him smirking. Though she really didn't notice that his eyes weren't looking at her, but over her shoulder. "YOU! Where is my amulet?! You took it, didn't you?!"

"No. I took **MY** amulet back." She heard someone whisper into her ear from behind her.

Jen's eyes widened before she jerked around, looking right into Dante's flaming blue eyes. She drew back a little to see him still alive and right in front of her. But then her body gave a jerk as soon as there was a loud gun shot and slowly smoke began to curl between the two. Slowly, she looked down to see Dante's demonic gun pressed against her chest, right above her heart. And there was a long trickle of blood slowly running down from the gun shot. And slowly, Jen looked back up at Dante, her eyes full of tears.

Dante frowned at Jen when he saw her smile gently at him. He wasn't sure why she was smiling at him. He had just killed her. He knew that he had. There was no way she was going to be able to live after getting a bullet in her heart. But then to his shock, he looked right into her soft green eyes. They were no longer a poisonous green.

This was not Jen.

Quickly, the half demon wrapped his arm around her waist to keep her from falling out of the air and he quickly dropped down to the roof of the building. The woman in his arms was growing limp as she was dying. But she was no longer the silver haired wicked woman they had been fighting. Her hair had darkened till it was light brown and her eyes were now a soft green, the color of summer leaves. She was a completely different woman.

"NO!"

Dante looked up to see Chaos drop out of the air, immediately transforming into Vincent once again. But the look on the Ex-Turk's face was disturbing. He knew who the woman was, Dante realized. And the look of horror and pain on his face told him all.

Vincent was quickly at Dante's side, taking in her appearance. He couldn't believe his eyes. Jen had been telling the truth all along. She had truly been Lucrecia Cresent. "Lucrecia….I'm….I'm sorry. I didn't….didn't know it was you!" He said as he looked into her green eyes. "I thought Jenova was lying!"

Lucrecia just smiled faintly up at him, which made a trickle of blood flow from the corner of her lips. "…..it's okay, Vincent." She whispered as she reached up and touched his cheek. "I…I forgive you. And I'm so….so-sorry for hurting you….I just couldn't control the Jenova cells inside of me." She gasped in pain as she was starting to fade, though her eyes flickered over to Dante. "Dante…..I'm sorry to you too. I….I didn't mean to hurt you. It's just…..I couldn't control Jenova." She then touched the amulet around his neck, touching the gray orb. "This….this will get you home. Thank you, Dante. Thank you, Vincent…..now I can finally rest……" She then closed her eyes. "And remember, Vince, I forgive you……" Then her body burst into orbs of light, swirling around both Vincent and Dante, who stood up and watched Lucrecia return to the Planet.

"I know…." The mystical Ex-Turk spoke softly before he slowly smiled. "You forgive me…."

Far below, as the dark stormy clouds rolled away and the sun was just barely coming out, Avalanche and Shinra were watching as they stared up at the sky. They had watched the entire thing. It was sad to watch Lucrecia, Vincent's once beloved die, but they knew that it was probably for the best. Now, as for Vincent, they hoped he was going to be okay about it.

Cloud slowly smiled as he glanced over at Barret when Marlene and Denzel hurried up to them. Everyone was happy to see them all right. But then he turned to say something to Zack, to ask if he was going to stay.

But Zack was gone.

Instead, the blonde saw a large gray wolf trotting away from them but it stopped to turn and look back at him. It was almost smiling at his old friend.

Cloud smiled right back before shaking his head. He knew that Zack couldn't stay. He was dead and it was time for him to go back to the Lifestream. So with a smile, Cloud waved at the wolf. "See you around, Zack. Take care of yourself, you old wolf." He said before he turned back to speak with Rufus Shinra and to thank him and the Turks for helping them.


	12. Epilogue

**A/N: This is the very last chapter. I hope you enjoyed this story and we'll see what happens later on. There's a very good possibility that I'll be doing a sequel to this.**

**Epilogue**

The aftermath of the storm was the same as usual. The city survivors immediately began to repair the damages made by Jenova and her monster and just cleaning up the mess that was made. The Avalanche members, the former Shinra employees and even Dante were helping the work go along.

For a few days now, they spent those days cleaning up, even though Dante was free to leave again. He just wanted to help though. He believed that half of the mess was his fault and he wanted to make it up by helping clean everything up. And after a few days, it was time for him to leave. The city was mostly cleaned up and they didn't need his help in rebuilding the ruins. Plus he was worried about his own world. Who knew how many demons decided to show up while he was gone.

"Thank you so much for your help, Dante." Vincent said quietly as he shook hands with the demon hunter. "We owe you now."

Dante just shrugged as he stepped back and looked everyone over. "No. No you don't, Vincent Valentine. I owe you. I should have questioned Jen's motives of killing you from the start, and used my gut instincts. I knew that there was something wrong with what she was asking me to do. I just didn't listen to my conscious. But at least all is well and it ends well." He told the mystical man. Vincent and the others all nodded as they faced Dante. They were sad to see Dante, especially Marlene.

The second Vincent and Dante stepped back away from one another, she hurried forward and threw her arms around his waist. "Dante!" She cried. "I don't want you to go! Please stay here with us!"

Dante smiled down at her as he wrapped his arms around her and embraced the child. Then he bent down to one knee so he was at her eye line. "I wish I could stay, Marlene. But I can't. I still have work to do. My own world needs a Demon Hunter to protect them from the devils." He then reached up and brushed one of her tears away. "So don't cry, kiddo."

"Will you come back someday?" Marlene asked as she held his other hand.

Dante nodded as he ruffled her hair with his free hand. "Sure. I'll come and visit you any time when it gets slow." He told her.

"Promise?!" Marlene asked sounding hopeful.

Again Dante smiled and gave her a nod. "I promise." He told her then he stood up, giving her hand a light squeeze. Then he looked around at Avalanche and Shinra. "Well, it's time." He then reached up and touched the orb in his amulet. "Let me just open up that infernal portal and then I'll give you guys this back. I'm sorry I took it in the first place. I didn't know what it was until it was too late."

There was a long pause before Cloud stepped forward, shaking his head. "No. You best keep it. It's too dangerous in this place." He glanced over at Rufus, his eyes squinting a little. "It'd probably attract power hungry people."

"Shut up, Strife." Remarked Rufus before he stepped forward and faced Dante. "Take it with you, Dante. It's yours now."

Reno tilted his head as he placed his fist onto his waist. He looked somewhat doubtful that Dante should take the infused White and Black materia. He was figuring that they were still useful on the Planet. "Yo, boss. Are you sure he should take that? I mean, we could use it to rebuild Shinra. And you want to give it away?" He asked, ignoring the looks he got from the Avalanche members. They were looking at the Shinra employees as if daring them to even try to rebuild Shinra and repeat their actions.

But Rufus then shook his head as he folded his arms. "As much as I would love to rebuild Shinra, I do not want to build it just to use it for selfish reasons. The reason Shinra Inc. was built in the first place was to help people, to serve them in anything they needed. But the priorities got so messed up and twisted that Shinra became an evil empire. If I was to rebuild Shinra, it would be for the people, not for myself." The Ex-President said as he ran his fingers through his hair. Then he eyed the infused material, shaking his head. "As for that, it is too powerful for us to even handle. And it seems to me that Dante can handle that power. He's strong enough to resist against the temptations those materia throw at us. So he can have it. Because I don't want it."

Cloud and his team, surely impressed with how much Rufus Shinra had changed. They had been wrong and Reeve had been right. Rufus was not the same man as he was before. He had changed greatly. And it was probably for the good. So they would cease to be enemies, as long as the Ex-Prez stays good.

"Well, there you have it, Dante. You can have the Silver materia. It'll serve you better than it does us." Cloud told the Demon Hunter.

With a shrug, Dante let go of his amulet and let it just hang there. Instead, he looked around the city, with a faint smile. "Well, I better get going. But I'll tell you one thing. I'm sure going to miss this place. This city, this world is fascinating. If I could, I'd probably stay here."

"You know you can, Dante." Yuffie said folding her arms and sticking out her hip. "It's a real neat place and you'd be welcomed to stay." She told him. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

Dante looked everyone over, a sad glint in his eyes. "I would love to stay here. It's a real nice place but….." He shook his head.

"But you can't. You have a duty to fulfill." Vincent finished quietly.

Dante nodded as he looked at the taller man, a smile on his handsome face. "That's right. To protect. I am the son of Sparda, a Demon Warrior and protector of humanity. I have to guard the gates of Hell, to make sure that evil demons stay the hell in there. If they were to get out, it'd be the end of humanity. I have to do what my father tried to do before me. And that's to protect people."

Everyone smiled in understanding. They knew exactly what he meant. It was his duty and honor to protect people, just it was like for them. He was a hero for his people and they did need him. Cloud smiled as he offered a hand to Dante, who took it. "Well, we'll never forget you, Dante. Thank you."

Dante nodded before he turned away from them and touched the mystical gray orb in his amulet. The materia began to glow brightly, white and black sparks flashing up before there was a loud rumble. In the middle of the air, a rippling portal opened up. It was time for Dante to return home. But before he would leave, he turned to Vincent, grinning. "Hey, Valentine. Why don't you come with me? I could use a new partner in running the Devil May Cry. It'd be fun. We can work together in kicking demon ass. And both of us could be Demon Hunters."

Vincent glanced over at the group of Avalanche, who looked surprised at Dante's request. But then after a moment, they all slowly smiled and gave him nods of encouragement. They knew it'd probably be best if he went. Therefore, he could be with people like him. He would fit in nicely working with Dante.

"Go ahead, Vincent." Cloud told him. "You should go with Dante. He's just like you. And you'd make one heck of a Demon Hunter."

Vincent just frowned as he looked down at the ground. He looked like he would take up that offer. There was nothing there to hold him back now that Lucrecia had returned to the Planet. Except……He looked up, meeting Dante's welcoming icy blue eyes. "I would be honored to join you, Dante." He told him, but then he hesitated.

Dante seemed to understand though. He just smiled and shook his head as he stepped back. "But you can't. You have a duty to fulfill."

Vincent nodded just once. "To protect. I'm sorry I have to decline."

Grinning, Dante walked back a few steps towards the portal with a lazy shrug. "Don't be, Vince. You gotta do what you gotta do. And as you do, do me a favor. Lighten up, pal. You have friends who care about you. Whatever happened in the past, is the past. It's time to look forward to a future." He then waved at Avalanche and Shinra. "Take care, guys. Maybe sometime in the future, I will return for a visit. And if I ever need any help, I know where to come for it." And then he walked right into the portal, vanishing from sight.

The entire group of friends just smiled as they watched Dante disappear and the portal close. They would miss Dante but they hoped that he would return someday. Vincent lingered with Cloud as everyone started to leave. Both of them smiling at the spot where the portal had been. "He'll be back." The blonde said, with a shrug as he glanced up at the taller man.

"I know he will. But for now, he needs to be a hunter." Vincent said with a smile. And he knew that Dante would return someday. It was only a matter of time.

* * *

The Devil May Cry was quiet and it was late in the evening as Dante was sitting at his desk, cleaning Ebony and Ivory. It had been almost a week since he returned to his world from the Planet. But to his surprise, he did not return to his world alone. Someone had followed him.  
Either way, he still wore the Silver materia on his mother's amulet. It gave him some interesting new abilities and he couldn't really wait to try them out. Problem was, it was quiet. He hated it when it was so quiet but then again, he liked it too. It meant there was no danger on the streets. He was listening to some soft music as he waited. All was well. 

Until there was a blood curling scream and a roar from demons.

With a grin, Dante slowly lifted his head and clicked his guns shut after loading them. That had been the sound he was waiting for all evening. "Well, time to work." He said as he stood up and then glanced over to a corner where a large gray wolf was lying. His icy blue eyes looked right into the soft blue ones looking up at him. "Come on, Zack. Let's go show them who's boss." The Demon Hunter said as he moved towards the door. The wolf actually grinned as he stood up and followed after Dante. He knew what time it was and he had been looking forward to this all night, like his new friend had.

It was Time to Hunt.

The End……or is it?

**A/N: So, how'd I do, everyone? As I said above, there's a good possibility that I might do a sequel. I've actually come up with an idea of what could happen. But you'll just have to wait and see. In the mean time, have fun. **

**Serin**


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